Fusion and the Orb of Life
by Frostfire613
Summary: Minako is allowed to come back from being the great seal for a year and works with Minato and Seta to seal Nyx away for 1000 years. She gets help from both the P3 & P4 teams. a P3PxP4 crossover! AkixMinako Pairing! Chapter 12 up! ON HIATUS! I'm sorry!
1. Chapter 1 Fusion and Rebirth

'It's dark, its cold...how much longer will I be here? I want to see them, my friends...Junpei, Yukari, Mitsuru, Ken, Koromaru, Fuuka, Shinjiro, and lastly... my love...'

"**If you wish to be released from the seal, I can make that happen...**" Nyx said.

"I want to be, but I can't. I cannot let the fall happen. I must stay here and protect my friends. Though watching over them and seeing them grow and mature without me is something I can bear, what I cannot bear is Akihiko falling in love with another girl and leaving me behind. But I must stay here, no matter how much it hurts; I must stay here and protect them." I sighed sadly.

"**I can help you prevent the fall again...I will give you some of my power, with that you can seal me away for a millennium without a sacrifice of a life...**" Nyx answered.

"For real?" I said hopefully.

"**Yes, but you will need the help of other persona users, their leader also possesses the wild card ability. He is the arcana of the 'World'.**" said Nyx.

"I see...but why will I need their help? How is it that I'm going to seal you away for a millennium without sacrificing a life?" I asked.

"**You will have to walk through Hell's labyrinth; there you will find the 9 shadow shards. With the shadow shards you will be able to create the Orb of Life, with it, you'll be able to seal me away for a millennium until the orb breaks into 9 shadow shards again for the next persona users who are able to take the challenge. You must create the Orb of Life in the Elysium**" Nyx answered.

"I see then...thank you Nyx, for allowing me to be able to be with my friends again should I succeed." I thanked.

"**I will give you one year, one year to collect the shards and seal me away for else I shall bring upon the fall. The other persona users have erased the wish of death man's hearts, but yet again man wishes for death, one year is all I can give you.**" Nyx declared. "**Oh and one more thing, with the power I give you, you'll be able to fuse with your personas.**"

"Fuse with my personas?" I asked.

"**Yes, you can fuse with your personas. When you fuse with them, you will gain some of their characteristics as well as enhance your power by far as to just summoning them. Since you are able to summon more than one persona, you can fuse with two at the same time. This is double fusing, a power only accessible to you, the Universe Arcana.**" Nyx said. "**You should teach your friends and the new persona users how to fuse with their personas as well, without being able to fuse with their personas; they will not be strong enough to survive Hell's Labyrinth.**"

"Yes, I will try my best to teach them." I said.

"**Very well, I will give you some of my power. I will also send Death with you on your journey; you can fuse with him if you wish to do so. But hurry, I sense the new persona users and your friends will soon reach a heated conflict, you must stop them before they accidently kill or severely wound each other.**" Nyx said. "**The Dark hour will return because Hell's labyrinth is only accessible during the Dark hour. Now go forth and bring me the Orb of Life.**"

A green glow emitted from my body as I descended from the golden gates. The next thing I knew I was on the moonlight bridge with Ryoji standing beside me.

"They're coming Minako, the new persona users." Ryoji said.

"Is that so, I didn't expect for it to be so soon. Nyx said that they were going to reach a conflict, in other worlds their probably going to have some kind of persona war in the middle of the streets. That's not how they should act if we are going to work to together for the next year to collect the shadow shards." I sighed.

"How will you deal with them then?" He asked.

"Well, let's surprise them shall we? I haven't had any fun for 5 years you know, since I was the seal after all. I'm going to need to make them work together..." I smiled.

"How are you going to do that?" He asked looking puzzled.

"Hmm...Oh! I know! I'll just make them work together and fight me! That should be really fun! I haven't had a good work out in a while and I can test how strong they are when they work together at the same time. It's like killing two birds with one stone." I said cheerfully as a evil grin stretched across my face.

"Are you sure about this? Oh well, it's not like my words will be able to stop you." He sighed.

"Glad you agree Ryoji. Lets go. Hmm, I'll fuse with Helel so I can fly where they're going to meet." I said. "Helel's soul overtake!"

Suddenly, I grew six angelic wings on my back, horns growing outwards, and leaving me nothing to wear except a lovely white silk ribbon twirled around my body.

"Hey, not bad... a bit breezy and quite revealing but comfortable." I said while looking at myself. "What do you think Ryoji? Does it look good?"

Ryoji only stared with a very noticeable blush on his face.

"I'll take that as a yes." I said happily. "And can you do me a favour? Can you make me a helmet of some sort? I'm afraid if my friends know that it's me, they won't fight me with all they have."

"Sure thing Minako." Ryoji said sounding delighted.

A beautiful white helmet appeared in his hands, looking like it was meant so my horns wouldn't get in the way while I'm fused with Helel. Ryoji handed it to me and I put in on gladly. It was really comfortable. The helmet covered my face and the back of my head while leaving the sides of my head plus my horns untouched.

"I also put a voice changer inside that helmet so they won't recognize your voice when you meet them." Ryoji said happily.

"Thanks! Okay lets go Ryoji!" I said as I took to the air soaring through the night sky with Ryoji right behind me.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the monorail to Iwatodai station...

"Wow, the last time we were here was on the field trip to the school!" Chie said happily.

"I can't wait to check out the mall here! We're only going to be free for another week since college starts soon." Rise said. "Yosuke-sempai, Seta-sempai, Teddie and Kanji can hold our shopping bags for us right girls?"

"Definitely!" said Yukiko.

"What? Why us?" The four boys complained at the same time.

"We better just settle into our apartment rooms first; it's almost midnight so I assume the mall is most likely closed at this point." Naoto said.

"Aww man, But I guess you're right Naoto." Rise sighed. "Oh look, we're here, finally Iwatodai station. I'm tired, let's just catch a cab and get to our new apartments so I can sleep already..."

"Agreed." Seta said sleepily.

As they leave the station, they look into the sky to see a full moon.

"The full moon looks so nice..." Yukiko smiled.

19:59:55

19:59:56

19:59:57

19:59:58

19:59:59

00:00:00

~Dark Hour~

"What the hell is going on here? Why did everyone turn into coffins and why is there blood all over the ground?" Chie exclaimed.

"I-I don't know! But the atmosphere feels like the T.V. world! I'm beary scared!" Teddie said shaking.

"Does that mean we can summon our personas here? Rise! Quick! Summon your persona and see what you can find!" Seta yelled.

"On it!" Rise said. "Come forth Kanzeon!"

Rise summoned her persona card and crushed it. A female persona that looked like she had a satellite for a face covered Rise's eyes and started scanning the area.

"I sense... eight persona users, and they're not far from here!" Rise said.

"Okay then, let's get moving everyone and keep your guard up, we don't know whether these persona users are friendly or not." Seta Commanded.

"Yes!" Everyone said simultaneously. Everyone equipped themselves with their weapons and started to walk cautiously, on the lookout for both the persona users and shadows.

* * *

Floating high above them...

"Heh Heh Heh, thanks Ryoji for concealing our presence, I don't want them to find me just yet. This is going to be fun. Let us watch over them and see what happens." I said happily. "I'll make my move at just the right moment."

"I'm looking forward to seeing this too Minako..." Ryoji smiled.

* * *

At the Dorms...

"Why is this happening? I thought we got rid of the dark hour!" Junpei yelled as he slammed his hand on the coffee table.

"That's why we called this meeting in the first place Stupei!" Yukari yelled.

"I don't know why the dark hour suddenly appeared again, but we should be thankful that Tartarus didn't come back with it." Mitsuru said.

"B-But what about Minako-san? She sacrificed her life to seal away Nyx to get rid of the dark hour! Does that mean that her seal is breaking? Does it mean her efforts were futile?" Ken exclaimed.

"Ngh..." Akihiko looked down and clenched his fist. "Minako..."

"Hmph." Shinjiro said nothing more.

*Whine* Koromaru murmured as he sat beside Shinjiro.

"Koromaru said that he is worried." Aigis translated.

Everyone stared down at their evokers with the initials SEES engraved on the sides, remembering what Minako did for them to live the life they have right now.

"Yamagishi, try summoning your persona, see if you can find anything." Mitsuru said.

"Yes, ok." Fuuka held her evoker to her head and pulled the trigger. "Juno!"

A persona that wore a blue mask and wings that looked somewhat of butterfly wings engulfed Fuuka.

"I sense nine persona users, and they're headed this way." Fuuka exclaimed.

"Okay everyone, get your weapons and evokers ready, we don't know if we're facing an enemy or not." Mitsuru commanded.

Everyone grabbed their evokers, put them into their holster and grabbed their weapons ready for battle.

"Everyone be cautious and don't let your guard down. Lets move!" Mitsuru declared as they headed out the doors.

"They're both getting ready for battle, they'll meet soon. At the rate their going, they'll meet midway from the dorm to the Iwatodai station." Ryoji said.

"Is that so...well then, let's get moving Ryoji." I said.

* * *

Midway between Iwatodai station and the dorm...

Junpei spotted 9 figures headed their way and assumed that they're a part of Strega right away.

"Trismagistus!" Junpei called as he summoned his persona. "Gigantic fist!"

"What the? Hey Stupei, you can't just attack them right away! What if they're not an enemy?" Yukari yelled.

"B-But..." Junpei stammered.

Too late, a strike aimed directly at the figures, causing them to panic.

"What the hell? They're attacking us? Fine then! If it's a fight they want then it's a fight they're going to get!" Yosuke said angrily.

"Susano-O! Garudyne!" Yosuke called.

A powerful gust of wind hit Junpei and knocked him down.

"Hmph, that'll teach him." Yosuke growled.

"Junpei are you okay? I'll get 'em!" Ken said. "Kala-nemi! Ziodyne!"

A bolt of electricity hit Yosuke knocking him down too.

Without thinking, Chie summoned her persona and started attacking Ken.

"Suzuka Gongen! God's Hand!"

"Ngh!" ken yelped as he was hit critically.

"Thats it." Shinjiro said. "Castor! Fatal end!"

The blow threw Chie backwards only for Kanji to catch her.

"Get bent! Rokuten Maou! Maziodyne!" Kanji called.

Several bolts of electricity came out of nowhere and hit SEES. Leaving only Akihiko and Fuuka unharmed, as he protect Fuuka from the attack but doing major damage to Aigis and Yukari.

"I see we cannot settle this with words now that everyone is attacking left and right. Artemisia! Mabufudyne!" Mitsuru called.

"Agreed." said Naoto. "Yamato Takeru! Megadolaon!"

The attacks hit each other. Not too long after a brutal persona war came out between them.

"Yes! They're going at it like crazy! Finally! I was getting tired of waiting! Time for me the be a 'Villain' and step in. Ryoji, you can un-conceal me now, I must make my presence known to them. However, keep yourself concealed until I'm done with them. Got it?" I said.

"Yes. Of course. I'm going to sit back and enjoy the show, too bad I don't have any popcorn..." Ryoji sighed.

Ryoji lifted the concealing spelling on me as I put on my helmet and descended for the battle.

_Hmm, maybe I should call out to them._

"**Hey guys!**" I yelled.

_Nobody even noticed me after I called out to them! HOW RUDE! Fine then, I guess I'll make then notice me the hard way!_

I rose up my power level like crazy, knowing that the sensor type on both teams would notice my presence and alert their teams.

"Huh? What in the world? Something's coming! Something powerful! This power reading is unimaginable! Watch out guys! It's right above us!" Fuuka yelled.

"Hey guys! Something extremely powerful is coming our way from above! Watch out! I've never sensed anything with this much power before!" Rise called out.

The two teams looked up, looking at and angel like creature descending upon them. The creature murmured something, something they couldn't hear.

"Morning star!" I called.

A bright ray of light came from the sky then a powerful almighty attack hit everyone in unison except Fuuka and Rise, knocking them down.

_Well, that got their attention for sure, good thing I didn't aim the attack at Fuuka and that other girl, they would have been knocked out for a month..._

"What the...an angel?" Junpei asked as he was struggling to get up.

"Fuuka!" Mitsuru called.

"Rise" Seta called.

"Scan the target!" They commanded simultaneously.

"On it!" They both said.

"Huh? I don't believe this, it's like that thing is a human and a persona at the same time!" Fuuka said.

Rise said the same thing to her team.

"How is that possible?" Mitsuru exclaimed.

"Ha ha ha! If You can't even withstand that, then you're all weak!" I yelled. "Now, come at me, give me the best you got!"

"Who are you?" Seta demanded.

"Who am I? If you manage to defeat me then I'll tell you everything." I said nonchalantly.

_Damn, it's a good thing Ryoji put that voice device in my helmet, my friends would have recognized me by now if he didn't._

"Fine then! Vorpal blade!" Junpei called out.

I deflect the attack with ease.

"Hmph, pathetic, you're going to have to do better than that to defeat me!" I yelled.

"What the? That attack didn't do anything to her!" Junpei cried.

Everyone had their chances of attacking, yet they all did minimal damage.

"Takeba! Heal us please!" Mitsuru demanded.

"Alright! I can do this! Isis! Mediarhan!" She call as he healed everyone in the party.

"Salvation!" Yukiko called as she healed her team.

"Hey you! Young man with the grey hair!" Mitsuru called.

"What do you want?" Seta asked.

"It seems we'll have to put our fight on hold, we should work together unless we want to die." Mitsuru said.

"Ngh... fine. Everyone! We're going to work with them to defeat this thing, got it?" Seta commanded reluctantly.

"Yes leader!" they answered.

"SEES members! We will work with them if we have any hopes for surviving this battle!" Mitsuru commanded.

"Yes!" Everyone replied.

"Arf" Koromaru barked.

"Hahaha, that's more like it! Come at me with all you got!" I declared. "Let's see what you can do if you work together!"

"Ziodyne!" called Kanji, Akihiko, and Ken.

"Arf (Agidyne)! Agidyne!" called Yukiko, Koromaru, and Junpei.

"Bufudyne!" called Mitsuru and Teddie.

"Garudyne!" called Yukari and Yosuke.

"God's Hand!" called Chie and Aigis.

"Megadolaon!" called Naoto and Seta.

All the attacks combined into one and was aimed towards me, in my quick thinking, I surrounded myself with my wings to guard against the attack.

**BOOM**!

A black smoke covered me from the impact.

"Ngh.." I huffed.

"Yes! We got her!" Junpei yelled happily.

Yukari and Yosuke used garudyne again to blow away the smoke to see what was left of the creature. The smoke cleared and all they could see was me, wrapped in a cocoon made from my wings that was now sizzling with some steam coming out.

_Damn, that hurt! If it wasn't for my wings, I'd have a major scar on my chest!_

"What? How can she still be alive! That attack was combined into one! That should have obliterated her!" Seta yelled.

"Hahahahaha... ouch! Well done. You passed my test." I said while I rubbed my wings.

A burn mark on my wings was clearly seen.

"Test? What test? Explain yourself!" Mitsuru demanded.

"Okay, if you insist. I was testing you to see if you could put your differences aside and work together as a team. In which the evidence of successful teamwork is clearly shown on my wings." I explained.

"Why do you need us to work together?" Yosuke asked.

"I need you to help me." I replied simply.

"Why should be help you! You freak of nature!" Junpei hissed.

"Ouch! That hurt you know Junpei. It's not nice to call people freaks of nature." I said.

"How the heck do you know my name? Answer me!" Junpei demanded.

"Of course I know your name silly!" I said.

I took off my helmet revealing my face. Everyone stared at me in awe.

_YES! THAT'S IT! RIGHT THERE! The look on their faces is priceless!_

"I'm your leader! If I forgot your name I don't think I'd deserve to call myself your friend now would I?" I said simply.

"L-Leader? M-Minako? Is that you?" Junpei stared.

"Of course it's me!" I said cheerfully! "I'm back!"


	2. Chapter 2 The Shadow Shards

"I'm back!" I smiled.

_Everyone is just staring at me; I guess they can't believe that I'm back after 4 years of being the seal._

Akihiko ran towards and gave me a hug almost knocking me over.

"You're back! I can't believe it! You're here! You're real!" Akihiko said as he hugged me tightly. "I've been waiting so long, I missed you."

"I missed you too! I love you so much! B-But..."I said.

"But what?" he asked.

"I-I need air Akihiko, I can't breathe! Your arms are crushing me!" I said as I gasped for air.

"O-Oh...I'm sorry Minako." He replied as he let go of me.

"No worries." I smiled. "What? Don't I get a hug from the rest of you guys?"

Everyone in that moment rushed up to me and gave me a hug, all of them crying tears of joy. Everyone except Shinji, who was obviously standing outside the crowd looking away with a smile on his face.

"Ahem, sorry to break your reunion but can you please tell us who you are?" Naoto asked.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry. I'm Minako Arisato. I'm the leader of SEES." I said.

"SEES?" Naoto asked.

"Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad, that's what SEES stands for." I said. "That is what we are, a group dedicated to the elimination of shadows. These are my team members, Akihiko Sanada, Mitsuru Kirijo, Junpei Iori, Aigis, Ken Amada, Fuuka Yamagishi, Yukari Takeba, Shinjiro Aragaki, and Koromaru."

"We are the Investigation Team. My name is Seta Souji, I'm the leader of this group." He introduced. "These are my team members, Yosuke Hanamura, Naoto Shirogane, Rise Kujikawa, Chie Satonaka, Kanji Tatsumi, Teddie, and Yukiko Amagi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you then." I said.

"Can you explain what is going on here Arisato-san?" Naoto asked.

"Yes of course, you guys must have tons of questions. I'm happy to answer them all to the best of my abilities." I said happily. "Oh yes I almost forgot. RYOJI! Get down here and introduce yourself!"

Just then Ryoji appeared out of nowhere.

"Hello there." He bowed. "My name is Ryoji Mochizuki, nice to meet you."

The SEES members were all in shock.

"Ryoji? What the heck are you doing here?" Junpei asked.

"Me? I'm assisting Minako of course." He replied.

"Anyways enough with the introductions, we should all get a good night's sleep. Come to our dorm first thing in the morning and I'll be happy to answer all your questions." I said as a drew a map and get it to Seta. "I also what to exchange numbers with you if that's alright."

"Very well then, see you tomorrow." Seta said as he led the group away to the apartment buildings nearby, but not before he gave me his number.

"Dang I'm tired, hey is my room still available for use?" I asked.

"Of course, we left it untouched." Mitsuru said proudly. "I'll even have a room prepared for Ryoji on the second floor."

"Thank you very much." Ryoji said, bowing to Mitsuru.

"Well then, good night everyone, sweet dreams." I said sleepily. "I'm sure you all have tons of questions just like the other group but I think you should save them for the morning, I'm too tired."

I walked to my room to see that everything was still in its place.

"Oh, I forgot that I'm still in Helel's form." I said. "Helel soul release!"

A bright glow emitted from my body to see that Helel's features were gone and I was left wearing a beautiful black dress made of silk. It looked like Aigis' summer dress. I got into my bed and fell asleep.

Morning...

Akihiko got up bright an early as usual, but this time instead of a morning jog he went straight to my room and checked if I was still there, only to see that the room was empty.

"Minako? Where did you go? Don't tell me she..." he said to himself as he rain down the stairs to check the lounge.

Suddenly an appetizing smell came from the kitchen. The smell of pancakes.

"Minako?" he asked as he peered through the kitchen doors. "What're you doing?"

"Oh, good morning Akihiko! I'm cooking pancakes for everyone. We haven't eaten together in 4 years, so I thought it would be nice." I smiled.

Akihiko walked up to me and hugged me from behind and kissed me on the back of my head.

"Well it smells delicious Minako." He smiled.

"Thanks." I said and kissed him on the cheek. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Yes, anything." He replied.

"Can you get the bowl of berries and whipped cream out of the fridge and put it on the table? I also need you to get everyone down here. I'm going to set the table and I'll be done by the time you come back with everyone." I said. "I'm also going to call the other persona users for breakfast too. Luckily Seta and I exchanged cellphone numbers."

"Sure no problem." He said as he walked out of the kitchen.

He took the big bowl of berries out of the fridge along with the whipped cream and put them on the center of the dining table. He went upstairs to get everybody up for breakfast. I called Seta and asked him and his group to join us for breakfast.

Moments later Seta and his gang arrived to see a beautiful pancake breakfast.

"Wow, looking good Arisato-san." Seta praised.

"Thank you very much." I smiled. "You can sit down in the lounge if you like, I'm going to see what's taking my friends so long to get downstairs."

"Sure." Seta replied and he watched me walk up the stairs.

"Hey, that chick is real hot huh?" Yosuke smirked as he nudged Seta's arm.

"She's a beary nice and pretty lady." Teddie said.

"She is totally out of your league Yosuke-sempai, and Teddie probably won't even stand a chance either." said Rise.

"She certainly is very polite and generous to invite us to breakfast, we should properly thank her afterwards." said Naoto.

Meanwhile...

I walk up the stairs to see everyone crowding in Junpei's room.

"What's going on guys?" I asked.

"Ugh, Stupei won't wake up no matter what we do Minako." Yukari complained.

"Don't worry, Yukari, I'll handle this." I said as I walked over to Junpei. "Here Akihiko, can you hold him up for me?"

Akihiko lifted Junpei with ease right from the armpits and held him up as if Junpei was standing on his own.

"Now, Yukari, kick Junpei as hard as you can in the nuts, that should wake him up." I smiled.

"Sure thing." She agreed as she smiled evilly.

***KICK***

"UGH!" Junpei exclaimed as he woke up now lying on the floor cupping his balls.

"Okay, now that he's awake, let's all go downstairs and eat some breakfast." I smiled.

I led them downstairs for them to see a gigantic pancake breakfast to welcome them this morning.

"Okay everyone can sit down and dig in. I made enough pancakes for all of you so go ahead and eat as much as you like! There's also whipped cream and berries for anyone who likes them on their pancakes." I said happily.

Everyone dug into their pancakes eating them like they haven't eaten in years.

"This is absolutely amazing!" Seta exclaimed.

"I agree! These pancakes are like an oasis compared to Yukiko's, Chie's, and Rise's mystery food X!" Yosuke said. "This is how a real woman should cook!"

"Hey!" the three girls said in unison.

"So good!" Kanji staid as he was stuffing his face.

"This is delicious Arisato-san!" Naoto praised as she ate some more.

"Much better than a 5 star restaurant Arisato." Mitsuru smiled.

"Just like I remember." Akihiko said.

"So good! I love it Mina-tan!" Junpei exclaimed. "Though it would be a lot tastier if SOMEONE didn't kick me in the nuts!"

"That's you're own fault for not waking up when we tried the first time." Yukari glared.

"Yummy!" Fuuka, and Ken said.

"Not bad." Shinjiro said.

"It's very good." Aigis said.

"What do you think Koromaru? How are the pancakes I specially made for you taste?" I asked.

"Arf!" Koromaru barked.

"He says that it is delicious Minako-san." Aigis translated.

After everyone finished eating, we all sat in the lounge ready to discuss the midnight hour.

"Thank you very much Arisato-san!" the Investigation team bowed.

"Hahaha, no need to thank me, it was my pleasure to cook for you all. Oh, and you don't have to be so formal with me. You can call me Minako."

"Ahh... that was totally amazing!" Yosuke said sounding satisfied.

"I'm sorry to ruin such a happy moment Minako-san, but can you tell us about last night?" Naoto asked.

"Oh yes, of course! Now, that 'Time' you experienced was called the Dark hour." I explained. "An hour hidden between one day and the next."

"Hidden?" Seta asked. "Okay then, why was everyone in a coffin?"

"Everyone who doesn't have the potential to awaken to a persona transmogrifies into a coffin during the dark hour. If for some reason a normal person were to experience it, they would immediately be attacked by a shadow and left in a mental state called 'Apathy Syndrome'." I said. "But thanks to Ryoji here, he gives off a special aura that lets us summon our personas during the daytime. But only if we're near him by at least 50 meters."

"How exactly do you summon your personas? Did you have to face your 'Other self' in the T.V. world? Or to be more specific, the 'Shadow world'?" Naoto asked.

"No, we were born with the potential." I said. "And this is how we summon our personas. Mitsuru, where is my evoker?"

"Evoker?" Yosuke asks.

"It's right here, I've kept it for you." Akihiko said.

Akihiko hands me a silver evoker shaped like a gun. I point it at my temple getting ready to summon my persona.

"W-Wait! What're you doing? Suicide isn't the answer here!" Seta exclaimed.

Seta was about to stop me when I pulled the trigger.

"Orpheus!" I called.

Everyone from the Investigation team stared in amazement of how we summon our personas. Soon after Orpheus disappeared.

"That was really cool..." Chie said still shocked

"Now, won't you show us how you summon your personas?" I asked.

"Of course." Seta said as he materialized a persona card in his hand and crushed it. "Izanagi!"

A persona floated above Seta's head and disappeared soon after.

"My, how interesting." Mitsuru said.

"Minako-san, why is it that you looked like an angel when you came to us? And why did you attack us?" Naoto asked.

"Yea, I was wondering about that too. It looked like you just came from heaven Mina-tan." Junpei said.

"Oh yes, I wouldn't expect you to know anything about that. That is a new power I gained, and soon will teach all of you. It's called Persona Fusion. You can fuse yourself with your persona, enhancing your power as well as gaining some of the characteristics that your persona has. I literally looked like and angel last night because I fused myself with a persona. The persona named Helel." I explained. "I'll show you."

Everyone watched me as I began to ready myself to fuse with Helel.

"Helel soul overtake!" I called.

Helel appear above my head briefly, basking me in a warm glow before disappearing. Then, horns grew out of my head, six beautiful angel wings grew on my back, and my clothes disappeared leaving behind nothing but a white silk ribbon twirled around my body to wear.

"Wow, that's amazing, I never knew that we could fuse with our personas like that." Fuuka said.

Every guy in the room started to blush.

_Hahaha, I knew that kind of reaction was going to happen! Score!_

"Why thank you. Though I must admit that fusing with Helel gives me quite revealing a attire, but the power I gain makes up for it." I said. "Helel soul release!"

A white glow emitted from my body once again as I returned to my normal form.

"But that still doesn't explain why you attacked us." Naoto deducted as she tried to not look perplexed looking at my fusion form.

"Yes well, I wanted to test how powerful you guys are actually. I also wanted you guys to work together to try to defeat me."I said.

"Though we still didn't have a chance against you even though we attacked together." Yukiko pouted.

"Yea, you were beary powerful miss!" Teddie said in awe.

"But why did you want us to work together Minako?" asked Yukari.

"I needed you guys to work together to help me get something." I said. "I need your help to get these crystals called the 'Shadow Shards'. There are 9 in total, and with them we can create the Orb of Life. With the Orb of Life, we can seal Nyx away for a thousand years to come."

"Nyx?" Rise asked.

"Nyx is the goddess of death, if she were to succeed in bringing the Fall, all life on this world would vanish." I explained. "And Ryoji here was Nyx's Appraiser. But not anymore."

Everyone gasped.

"Originally, I sacrificed my life to become the great seal to prevent Nyx to bring about the Fall, but thanks to you guys, you erased man's yearning for death." I said.

"If we erased man's wanting for death, how come we need to get these shadow shards? Aren't we not in danger anymore?" Kanji asked.

"Plus, how are you still alive?" Seta asked. "If you sacrificed your life to become the seal, how come you're here?"

"Man's yearn for death is steadily increasing over the years, and soon will be strong enough to call Nyx again. So Nyx released me from the seal, giving me one year to collect the shadow shards and creating the Orb of Life. And as I said, with the Orb of Life I can seal Nyx away for a millennium until the Orb Shatters again for the next persona users to take the challenge of collecting them." I explained.

"The Orb of Life represents man's yearn to live, not die. That is why it's imperative that we create it." Ryoji said as he stepped into the conversation.

"But Minako-san, where will we find the Shadow Shards?" Ken asked.

"We need to find them in a called Hell's Labyrinth. After finding them we have to take the shards to a place above Hell's Labyrinth called the Elysium and create the orb." I said. "Apparently it appears only during the dark hour. Yet I do not know where it is exactly."

"I know how to find it fortunately. Using both Fuuka's and Miss Rise's personas, we can locate the Labyrinth as it gives off an ominous aura." Ryoji said. "But they are not yet powerful enough to find it. They must be able to fuse with their personas first."

"I see." I said. "Then I must teach you all how to fuse with your personas as soon as possible then."

"And how are we going to learn how to fuse with them?" Shinji asked.

"Well, you are all going to have to face yourself. Not emotionally this time. You will have to fight yourself physically. It's like training with by yourself with yourself as your sparring partner. After beating 'yourself', you would have completed the first stage to being able to fuse with your personas." I said. "There are 3 stages to learning how to fuse with your personas. But I'll let you guys know the 2nd stage after you've finished the first."

"Aww man! Its like the T.V. world all over again!" Yosuke complained.


	3. Chapter 3 The Battle Realms

"How're we supposed to fight ourselves? We're not going to go into the T.V. again are we?" Chie grimaced.

"Ugh...don't remind me...please." Kanji sighed.

"Hahaha, no we're not." I chuckled. "Ryoji is going to create a special 'Realm' for you guys to train in. There, as soon as you step in the realm, your other self will appear and battle you. You don't necessarily have to defeat your other self in a day; you may take as long as a month if you wish. When you enter the realm for the first time, it records your power at that exact moment. All you have to do is defeat yourself by passing your limits."

"You make it sound easy Mina-tan..." Junpei sighed.

"Don't worry, you'll all most likely finish within a week." I smiled. "As for Fuuka and Rise, since they are scanning type persona users, they will have a shadow attack them. They will have to work on evasion since they aren't suited for combat. We can't afford to always protect them while we're in the midst of a battle. But don't worry; these shadows won't be too powerful. If you can get out of the realm untouched by the shadow, you would have passed the test."

"That sounds difficult, but I'll try my best!" Fuuka said.

"Me too!" Rise agreed.

"Well then. Ryoji will create the realms today; it'll take all day so we'll have to start tomorrow. This'll be a good chance to suck in all the info I gave you." I said. "Any other questions?"

"Umm, I have one Minako-san." said Yosuke.

"Hmm?" I smiled.

"Uhh...do you have a boyfriend at the moment?" Yosuke asked.

Everyone stared at Yosuke in confusion, probably thinking the same thing, 'Where did that question come from?'

_Way to break the heavy atmosphere Yosuke-kun._

"Yes I do actually." I said.

I grabbed Akihiko's arm and clung to it.

"This man right here!" I smiled as I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

Akihiko blushed considerably.

_Akihiko is sooo cute when he blushes!_

'Dang, I can't compete with a guy like him. Oh well.' Yosuke thought as he sighed.

"You're totally beat Yosuke-sempai." Kanji whispered.

"You don't have to tell me Kanji, I know already." Yosuke whispered back.

"Too bad dude, Minako-san is taken." Seta said.

"Anyways... do you all want to do something? I don't have anything to do today." I asked.

"Sorry Mina-tan, I gotta get back home to Chidori, she's my wife now you know." Junpei smiled. "I called her saying that I was staying here tonight but I really should get back, I shouldn't leave her alone for too long."

"You're married? Congratulations Junpei!" I said happily.

"Heh...thanks!" he said while blushing.

"I have to go to work, sorry Arisato." Mitsuru said. "I still have the responsibilities of the head of the Kirijo group."

"And I have to file some reports at the police station." Akihiko said reluctantly. "Maybe another time, plus I have to go back to my apartment for some things."

"Tch, I don't have the time." Shinji said.

"Yea, Shinji is in culinary school now." said Akihiko.

Shinji glared at him but he didn't care.

"Yukari, Ken, Aigis, and I are free Minako-chan" Fuuka said.

"Arf Arf!" barked Koromaru.

"He says that he is tired and will stay at the dorms and rest. He also says that he will keep Ryoji-san company as he creates the battle realms." Aigis translated.

"Why thank you Koro-chan." Ryoji said sounding delighted.

"Okay then, what about you guys?" I asked.

"We're all free for a week since college doesn't start yet. We can hang out with you if you like; it'd be a great way to get to know each other more." Seta offered.

"Yes, we can probably work together better as a team if we know each other well." Naoto said.

"Oh and Arisato, I'll have someone get some clothes for you, since I'm betting that you're not going to wear that dress everyday for the next year." Mitsuru said.

"Thanks Mitsuru-sempai!" I smiled as a hugged her.

"Ok, let's go guys!" I hollered as we walked out of the dorm.

We ended up, singing karaoke, playing in the arcade, going shopping, and taking a break at the cafe. After we were done drinking coffee, we all headed back to the dorms together.

"Are you done creating the battle realms Ryoji?" I called.

"Yea! Come over here!" Ryoji answered.

We came into the lounger and saw a row of different coloured doors along the walls. Each of them having someone's name engraved onto it.

"Wow, that's some nice work Ryoji." I said excitedly.

"Cool..." Chie gasped. "We each have our own Battle realms."

"Now that they're complete, feel free to use them as you wish. As we said before, as soon as you walk in, your power level is recorded and that's the power level you must defeat for the first stage to be completed. Now, I arranged for a reward to appear when you defeat yourself." Ryoji said.

"A reward?" Seta asked.

"Yes, a reward. Consider it a gift from me should you complete the first stage." Ryoji smiled. "I already told the other SEES members about them and they will be here tomorrow."

"Good job Ryoji. Now then, everyone, you may return to your homes now. We'll start tomorrow. So everyone should go to sleep early and have a good rest because you're all going to need your strength." I yawned. "I'll call you in the morning Seta-kun. Oh, and may I have all of your numbers as well? I may need to contact you in case of an emergency."

"Of course, I was thinking the same thing." Naoto agreed and pulled out her phone.

After exchanging number they all said goodbye and left.

I looked at my watch.

"Hmm, 7pm huh...good I can still make it to the grocery store before it closes." I headed out the dorm.

I got to the grocery store, did some shopping and was now on my way back to the dorm.

*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*

"Oh its Akihiko calling." I answered my phone. "Hey Akihiko, what's up?"

"_Where are you Minako? I got to the dorm when my work was finished but you're not here._"

"Oh, I went grocery shopping. Nothing big you don't have to worry."

"_I still worry you know! It's already 8:30pm and its dark out. I'm going to come and find you and walk you home. I don't want anything to happen to you say stay where you are._"

"You don't have to come out of your way to come and get me, I'll be fine."

"_I'm coming anyway._"

"Fine then—What the? Who are you? Get your hands off me you- *Beep* *Beep* Beep*"

"Minako? Minako? Minako answer me!" Akihiko yelled into his phone. "Dammit! I've got to find her!"

Akihiko ran out of the dorm as fast as he could. He ran to the grocery store hoping to find Minako on the way, still safe.

Then he heard some screaming in a nearby alley and decided to check it out.

'It's Minako!' He thought.

But instead of seeing Minako being beaten, it was the thugs who tried to attack me that were being beaten.

*PUNCH* *KICK* *SMACK* POW*

"Minako, are you alright?" Akihiko ran up to her.

Her face was full of tears.

"Did they do anything to you?"

"Yes they did!" I cried. "They crushed my oranges and bruised my apples! They also ruined many other things I bought!"

I was still beating on them until Akihiko held me back. When he did, the thugs ran away in fear. I could have sworn that I heard one of them say that he'd never attack a woman again, but I was more shocked over my ruined groceries.

"Calm down Minako!" Akihiko hugged me. "It's okay, we can go shopping again tomorrow, and this time I'm coming with you."

"Hmph." I wiped the tears from my eyes. "Fine then... my groceries..."

I walked back to the dorm with Akihiko, still sulking about the food.

I walked upstairs to my room, and just dropped into my bed.

_I'm so tired. But it was a fun day, fun except for the fact that that thug ruined my food! I'll get him if I ever see him again!_

The next Morning...

I look at my clock only to see that its 5am.

_Dang, 5am? That's it? Ugh... I'm just going to go sleep on the couch in the lounge. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep some more._

I walked downstairs and say Koromaru sleeping soundly in his bed. Not wanting to wake him up, I creped past him and laid down on the couch.

_Ahh... this is really comfy... I'll be able to get more shut eye like this, plus Koro-chan is going to be my company._

_ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz..._

Later that Morning around 5:30am, Akihiko walked down the stairs in his workout clothes getting ready for a morning jog. He was about to leave when he saw me sleeping on the couch.

'_Minako is going to catch a cold sleeping like that; I'd better get a blanket and cover her.'_

Akihiko walked up the stairs to his room, took the blanket off his bed and put them gently over me.

He gave me a kiss before leaving on his jog.

A few hours later, I woke up with a yawn. I looked around, then my eyes stopped at Akihiko, who was sitting on the couch across from me eating some instant soba.

"Mmm...good morning Akihiko." I yawned.

I went up to him and gave him a kiss.

"Morning Minako, have a good sleep? If you're going to sleep on the couch, next time bring a blanket so you don't catch a cold." He said.

"Heh..." I chuckled. "Sorry, this must've been your blanket right?"

"No worries it's fine, it's my job to protect you after all, even if it's just from a cold." He said proudly.

"Thank you for protecting me then." I said as I kissed his forehead. "I'm going to clean up and brush my teeth, be right back."

"Okay." He replied.

2 hours later it was 10am. I called Seta's team over and called SEES over.

They all sat in the lounge, each of them staring at the doors along the walls, each with a name engraved on it.

"Okay guys. Now you're all going to face yourself. Prepare for battle because it's going to be a rough fight. You'll be surprised on how strong you really are since you're other self will use your current abilities to the maximum." I explained. "Now, you don't necessarily have to beat them today, if you do, then good for you. If you don't, you can try again after you've rested up. Let's try to get this done within the next couple days, the sooner we can start the second stage, the better."

"Are you ready everyone?" Ryoji asked.

"Yes!" They all said in unison.

"Well then, everyone stand in front of the door with your name engraved onto it. This will declare that the realm is yours alone to use. If you wish to use it for training even after stage one is complete, you may do so." Ryoji said. "Good luck to all of you, now you may enter your battle realms."

"I'll be waiting; I'll heal you when you come out of your realms. May you be victorious..." I said.

Everyone nodded as they stood in front of their doors, readying themselves.

"Heh, bring it on!" Akihiko entered his door.

"I can do this!" Yukari entered her door.

"I guess I'll be falling at my own hands." Mitsuru entered her door.

"Other me...get ready to get bent!" Kanji entered his door.

"I'll try my beary best!" Teddie entered his door.

"I'm gunna win this." Seta entered his door.

"Tch." Shinjiro entered his door.

One by one they all entered their doors, until only Fuuka and Rise were left.

"I don't want to drag my friends down, I must do this!" Fuuka said as she entered her door.

"I won't drag Sempai down!" Rise entered her door.

"Well then, should we sit back and wait? It'll be awhile before anyone of them comes out..." Ryoji said. "Hmm? Minako?"

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzz...

"..."


	4. Chapter 4 First Stage Complete

*Yawn* "Aww man, I didn't expect to fall asleep again..." I said sleepily.

"You were sleeping for an hour now." Ryoji said.

"An hour huh? Hmmm, hey Ryoji, did you enable the resistance nullifier in the battle realms?" I asked.

"Yea why...OH CRAP!" Ryoji was shocked.

"Yea, I just remembered myself, we forgot to tell them that their resistances to certain attacks or elements are nullified in the battle realms..." I sighed. "Oh well, I'm sure they're just fine."

**No, they really aren't 'just' fine... Meanwhile in the Battle realms...**

_**Kanji's Realm**_

"What the heck? How come I'm not resistant to electricity anymore?" Kanji yelled as he was running away from the bolts of thunder that were after him.

"HAHAHAHA! This feels great! Run away more you weakling! That'll teach ya to rely on your resistances!" Other Kanji laughed.

_**Akihiko's Realm**_

"So, I'm not resistant to electricity in here huh?" He thought. "Well that's fine with me, time to switch to hand & hand combat!"

"Try and hit me you training obsessed freak!" Other Akihiko taunted.

_**Shinjiro's Realm**_

"Tch. This guy is a real pain in the ass." Shinji sighed.

"Of course I'm a real pain in the ass! I'm YOU! Come and get me cooking boy!" Other Shinjiro chuckled.

_**Mitsuru's Realm**_

"I'm quite the formidable foe; I now know what it's like to be on the receiving end of my executions..." Mitsuru huffed.

"HAHAHA! That's right! Feel the chill!" Other Mitsuru laughed.

_**Koromaru's Realm**_

*Whine* Koromaru dodged the fire attacks left and right.

*Growl* Other Koromaru barked.

_**Junpei's Realm**_

"Dammit!" Junpei cursed.

"Not so much of a hero now are you?" Other Junpei yelled.

_**Yukari's Realm**_

"ACK!" Yukari shrieked.

"Hahahaha, that's right! Keep on screaming!" Other Yukari chuckled.

_**Fuuka's Realm**_

"EEEYAAAAAA!" Fuuka screamed.

Fuuka was trying as hard as she could possible to dodge the shadow's attacks, but she was still hit occasionally. Used to supporting in the battle rather than being in it, the attacks did quite a number on her though they we're pretty weak attacks.

The attacks ranged from weak-medium level.

_**Rise's Realm**_

"Kyaaa!" Rise screamed. "So this is what it's like to be in the battle...Ngh..."

Rise was getting better at dodging; using her pop idol dancing moves to dodge was her way of learning.

_**Yosuke's Realm**_

"There is no way that I'm this powerful!" Yosuke hollered as he was running away from his other self.

"You'd better believe it partner!" Other Yosuke called.

_**Seta's Realm**_

"I'm quite proud of myself for getting this far in terms of power!" Seta said excitedly.

"Why thank you, 'other' me." Other seta said.

_**Naoto's Realm**_

"I've matured over the years, I won't accept defeat!" Naoto declared.

"Hmph, matured or not, your power is that of a child! You'll have to do better than that to defeat me 'Detective Prince'." Other Naoto taunted.

_**Chie's Realm**_

"Sheesh, it hurts to be attacked by your other self." Chie gasped.

"Does it hurt that much? Well then, get ready to be in even more pain!" Other Chie yelled.

_**Yukiko's Realm**_

"I've got to try harder!" Yukiko said looking determined.

"Yea you better try harder! Which that kind of power you'll never defeat me!" Other Yukiko said.

_**Teddie's Realm**_

"I'm beary hurt!" Teddie gasped.

"Stop with the dumb 'Bear' puns and attack me!" Other Teddie yelled.

_**Aigis' Realm**_

"Time to take evasive actions!" Aigis declared.

"Evasion won't get you anywhere if you can't hit me!" Other Aigis said.

_**Ken's Realm**_

"I've got to do better!" Ken huffed.

"Hurry up and attack me with all you've got or you're going to be a burden to everyone else you little wimp!" Other Ken said.

**Back in the dorms...**

"Oh did you go grocery shopping Minako?" Ryoji asked.

"Yea, I thought I'd cook everybody lunch, they must be hungry. Plus, I didn't really have anything better to do." I said as I got ready to start cooking. "I'm going to cook Nabé (Japanese stew) for everyone."

"That sounds great. I'll keep watching over the doors in case someone comes out." Ryoji said.

"Thanks, that'll help a lot." I said as I started cooking.

**2 hours later...**

"Tch, that felt like a bunch of bullshit." Shinjiro said as he walked out of his door.

"Shinjiro-san, I see that you've completed the first stage! In 3½ hours no less, congratulations. Did you receive my reward?"

"Yea, what is this hunk of crap anyway?" Shinji asked as he held up a black bracer.

"That 'hunk of crap' is a power bracer; it enhances your power so you can do more damage when you use physical attacks." Ryoji explained.

"I see." Shinji sighed.

"Oh Shinji? You're back already? Wow, should've known that you'd be the first. Here I'll heal you up." I said as I summoned my persona. "Kohryu! Salvation!"

In an instant, rays of warm colourful light engulfed Shinji, healing all of his wounds.

A few moments later, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Naoto, and Seta all came out of their doors, looking victorious.

"Salvation!" I called.

Once all of their wounds were healed, they sat in the lounge, discussing their victories and their rewards. Ryoji had to explain what their rewards were exactly. Naoto had received a gun that doesn't require bullets or reloading to shoot. Akihiko got fighting gloves that enhanced his elec attacks and his punching power. Mitsuru received an ice ring to enhance her ice attacks, and Seta had received a necklace that enhanced his elemental abilities, depending on which personas he used.

"Ryoji, call everyone else out of the battle realms, it's time for lunch." I said as I set the finished stew on top of the dining table, as well as some of the other dishes I cooked.

I ended up making fried pork, handmade sushi rolls, stir fried vegetables with chicken, and some dumplings along with the stew. I also made homemade fruit crepes from scratch for dessert.

As soon as everyone got out of their realms, I healed them up and called them over for lunch.

"Wow, nice spread Minako-san" Seta complemented.

"Heh...thanks..." I smiled sheepishly. "Okay everyone, all of you must be hungry after fighting yourselves for around 3-4 hours so eat up! I've made plenty!"

"Thank you for the food!" Everyone said as they started to dig into their meal.

After a while the plates were cleaned off and everyone started eating dessert, soon after everyone finished and was now sitting in the lounge.

"Ahhh...that was heavenly, I'm so beary full!" Teddie said as he rubbed his stomach.

"Yea Minako-san, that was really good! You should teach these girls here how to cook!" Yosuke said as he pointed to Chie, Yukiko, and Rise.

"We aren't that bad you know..." Yukiko sighed.

"Aren't that BAD? You almost killed us during the camping trip AND omelette contest! The only decent thing you actually cooked was that cake, but then again if Naoto wasn't there it would have been Mysterious food X *Christmas Edition*." Yosuke complained.

_Mystery food X? Doesn't sound very delicious, are they as bad as he says they are? Ugh...I don't' think I want to risk it and find out..._

"Hey! That's not nice Yosuke-sempai!" Rise shouted.

Everyone started to laugh cheerfully.

"Hahaha, don't worry Rise-chan, Chie-chan, and Yukiko-chan. I'll teach you how to cook so you can show these boys up." I smiled.

"Really?" Yukiko said hopefully.

"That'd be great! Thanks!" Chie said.

"We can make Yosuke-sempai eat his words!" Rise said.

"Yeah, good luck with that. But...you might actually make something remotely edible with the help of Minako-san." Seta said happily. "What about you Naoto, are you going to cook as well?"

"I'd rather not. Solving cases is more of my calling than cooking. Though it would be a useful skill to learn so...what the heck, why not." Naoto replied.

"Great! After you all complete the first stage, I'll start teaching you the basics." I said cheerfully. "Oh and congratulations Mitsuru-sempai, Akihiko, Shinji, Seta-kun, and Naoto-chan for completing the first stage on the first day so quickly! I'm quite amazed and proud of you. As for the rest of you, I hope you will soon complete the first stage as well."

"You all seriously finished already?" Kanji looked surprised.

"Yea, it was a lot tougher than I thought." Seta replied.

"I never knew that I was so strong, I'm quite proud of myself." Naoto said proudly.

"It was the ultimate form of competing with myself." Akihiko declared.

"Hmph." Shinji said as he stood in the corner.

"I now know what my executions feel like." Mitsuru said. "But that doesn't mean I regret giving them to you back in Kyoto."

"Kyoto?" Rise asked.

"Ngh..." Ryoji, Junpei, and Akihiko grimaced.

"Hmph." Fuuka and Yukari huffed.

"Did something bad happen?" Yukiko asked.

_Oh yea, something bad happened alright._

"Well..." I remembered. "Let's get say that there were CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS that were in the hot springs there during the women's hours, and let's say they were ALL properly PUNISHED."

I glared at Ryoji, Junpei, and Akihiko. The investigation team and Shinji quickly caught my drift.

"It was quite interesting to see two ice sculptures in the middle of a hot spring." Aigis recalled.

_Yea, I thought it was hilarious._

'_Damn, that Mitsuru lady is harsh and SCARY!_' the boys thought.

'_Hmph, serves them right!_' the girls thought.

"Wait..." Seta said as he counted to make sure that he wasn't wrong. "There were three guys weren't there? What happened to the third?"

"I dealt with him accordingly." I smirked as an evil grin crept across my face looking at Akihiko.

_More like I made-out with Akihiko in the corner of the hallway where we couldn't be seen. Then when the dark hour came, I casted a very power niffliem on him._

"I see..." Seta said as look looked at me with fear.

"Anyways, since there are 5 people done their first stage, I will now explain the second one." I said. "You will be using the battle realms again for this one. Except this time you will go through a weakness maze."

"A weakness maze?" Yukari asked.

"Yes a weakness maze. The maze will be in an elemental environment filled with shadows that will only have spells that are your weakness." I said.

"I don't get it..." Junpei said.

"Hmm, okay then, let's use Akihiko for an example. Since he is weak to ice attacks, he'll have to trek through a maze made of ice and filled with shadows that carry only ice type attacks. For someone like Shinji here, who doesn't have a single weakness, he will just go through a maze filled with powerful shadows. If you reach the end of the maze conscious, you pass." I explained. "This stage will make you endure your weakness and well as level up your evasion against it. We can't afford to have everyone getting knocked down left and right in Hell's Labyrinth you know. We also put teleporters throughout the maze just in case you need to come back if you're severely injured or have to go to the washroom."

"Conscious? What happens if you pass out?" Chie asked.

"If you pass out, the realm will automatically bring you here in the lounge to be healed, then you will have to start ALL OVER again." I smiled. "As long as you're still standing and awake when you get to the end of the maze, you pass. So try to look remotely alive when you do reach the end okay?"

Everyone grimaced.

_YES! Another great reaction! Score #2! This is great!_

"Damn...another hard test." Junpei sighed. "Fusing with our personas better be worth it."

"Of course it's worth it Stupei! If it wasn't, we wouldn't be wasting our time here doing this now would we?" Yukari snapped.

"The teleporter thing makes me feel a bit better though..." Yosuke said.

"Umm...Minako-san? What about Fuuka-san and I?" Rise asked.

"Oh, for you two, you'll have to go through a maze like the rest, working on scanning and moving at the same time." I said. "You'll have to evade the shadow's attacks while scanning for their weakness. As soon as you finish scanning them, the shadows will disappear. This will be difficult but we need you to be able to do it since you're going to do it often after being able to fuse with your personas."

"I'll do my best...I don't want to be a burden!" Fuuka declared.

"Good luck Fuuka, I know you can do it! I'm still worried about my own though...a maze with electric walls filled with electric type shadows it going to be tough..." Yukari sighed.

"Okay everyone; now go back into the battle realms, those who have completed the first stage will wait here until Ryoji is done remodelling your battle realms." I said.

Everyone except Seta, Mitsuru, Akihiko, Shinji, and Naoto went back into their battle realms.

An hour later, Ryoji was finished remodelling the 5 battle realms.

"Phew...they're done! You can go on in now." Ryoji said.

"Okay thanks Ryoji, go ahead and take a rest." I said. "Okay guys, you heard him, get on in there and start the second stage!"

"I'm ready for anything." Seta entered his maze.

"Tch...more bullshit." Shinji entered his maze.

"I'm not going to give up just because of some ice!" Akihiko entered his maze.

"I won't fall behind Seta-sempai." Naoto entered her maze.

"I won't disgrace myself." Mitsuru entered her maze.

"Now let's see how long it'll take for them to finish their mazes, of course I don't think most of them will get through on their first try. Though Seta-kun will have a good chance because of his wild card ability." Ryoji said.

"I agree..." I said.

A couple hours later everyone else completed the first stage and has received their rewards for completing it.

Rise and Fuuka got anklets that would cast auto-sakukaja on them.

Kanji and Ken got a dog tag necklace that boosted their elec attacks.

Koromaru, Junpei, and Yukiko got trinkets that enhanced their fire attacks.

Aigis got a hair accessory that made her buff spells (Takukaja, Rakukaja, and Sakukaja) last longer and have a stronger effect.

Yukari got a glove that helped with her bow accuracy as well as enhance her wind skills.

Yosuke got a ring that enhanced his wind abilities.

Chie got chin plates that powered up her kicking abilities and physical attacks.

Teddie got a necklace that powered up his ice attacks.

A couple hours after completing their first stage, they rested up as Ryoji remodelled their battle realms. After he was done they headed into their maze.

They were all now on the second stage in the first day.

"I'm quite proud of them; they all finished the first stage in less than a day. They must all be very determined to be able to fuse with their personas." I said. "Too bad that they aren't likely to finish this stage as easily; they will take at least 2 days or more to finish it. This is a harsh and difficult maze; they're all likely to pass out on their first try."

"When someone does pass out they'll be brought here so you'll have to heal them up as soon as possible because they could be severely injured." Ryoji said.

"Don't worry, I can handle it." I said. "Did you make the maze long like I asked?"

"Yes, it will take at least a few hours to get through it. Though they can always come back though the teleporters if they're severely injured." Ryoji said.

"True..."I smiled. "Heh Heh Heh, they all must be going through hell at the moment. This is soo fun!"

"You're cruel you know that Minako?" Ryoji chuckled.

"I know." I said happily.


	5. Chapter 5 The Third Stage

A couple hours after everyone entered the maze, all of them ended up either passing out or getting severely injured and had to take an emergency exit.

"Damn, why is it so hard?" Junpei growled.

"Nobody said it was going to be easy Iori." Mitsuru said.

"I'm sorry, but if it's not this harsh you won't be able to endure your weakness." I said.

"Well, to be honest, I didn't expect you to last so long in the maze." Ryoji praised.

"Damn, I can't believe I passed out after an hour." Yukari sighed.

"Well, at least you lasted longer than me..." Yukiko said.

"It's a lot harder for Koro and I because we have weaknesses to light and dark attacks." Ken said.

"But on the bright side you have fewer shadows in your mazes, plus Ryoji made them so they wouldn't spam mudo and hama skills all the time. Just to be fair." I stated.

"Damn, I was so close to the end but that last shadow got me from behind." Seta grumbled.

"You saw the end of the maze also sempai?" Naoto asked. "I was close, but as soon as I saw it I let my guard down. That was a fatal mistake..."

"Yeah, who could miss it? It's a giant glowing silver door! You'd have to be blind to not be able to see it!" Seta said.

"Well, at least we know what to look for...to be honest I don't think I got anywhere near it." Yosuke sighed.

"Me neither." Chie and Kanji said.

"Well at least you have personas that are suited for battle, Fuuka-san and I have to scan while we're moving." Rise complained.

"Yea, I never knew that it was so hard! Although my persona usually protects me from most attacks, it's useless against the higher levelled ones." Fuuka said.

"Well then, it's getting late. Everyone should call it a night so we can try again tomorrow!" I cheered.

"Ugh..." Everyone grimaced at the thought of going back into their mazes.

"Oh c'mon, it can't be all that bad right?"I asked.

"You have no idea." Everyone stated simultaneously.

_I guess it was that bad..._

Just then, Mitsuru had just received a call.

"Hello? Mitsuru speaking...uh huh...ok...I see...then bring it here to the dorm tomorrow morning, we can find some sort of use for it...10am?...alright then...thank you and goodbye."

"What's wrong Mitsuru?" Akihiko asked.

"Apparently at the mansion, some maids were cleaning out the basement and found an old piano. It's still in fairly good condition so I told them to bring it here; it could be a decoration of some sort." Mitsuru said. "They're coming by around 10am to bring it in, so I guess we can put it by the window."

"A piano? Man I haven't played one in ages...I used to sing and play the piano at the same time all the time when I was little." I said. "I hope I haven't lost my touch, it's been years but I think I still remember how to play one song, it was my favourite piece."

"You can play the piano Arisato? Then we'll be expecting a performance then tomorrow." Mitsuru smiled. "Who knows? Maybe your song can encourage us."

"HUH? No no no no no! I can't play in front of everyone! I'll get nervous and play poorly!" I stuttered. "Plus, what if I'm a horrible singer?"

"You'll do fine Minako-san." said Seta.

"Yea, I want to hear you play too!" Ken said.

"Fine...but you're going to have to sit through the entire thing even if it sounds horrible!" I huffed.

The next morning around 10am, a bunch of people from the Kirijo estate delivered the piano; it was a fine one at that. It was a beautiful ebony black piano that looked like it was an antique, since Mitsuru didn't know that she even had a piano, I assumed that it was even older than her by at least a few years; give or take.

Mitsuru called Seta and his friends over and they all sat excitedly in the lounge, awaiting my performance.

_Dang, I knew that it was nerve wrecking to play a piano in front of someone other than my brother, but today I'm going to have to play in front of a small crowd!_

I stood in front of the piano and called for everyone's attention.

"Umm...o-okay everyone, the piece I'm going to play is called 'Piece of Love'." I said.

I sat on the piano bench and started to play my piece then sang.

_**Itsuka, konna hi ga kuru to yokan shita...? (**__Did I predict one day that this day would come...?__**)**_

_**Koi ni tomadou kokoro yurete yurete itai hodo... (**__My heart that's bewildered by love, it shakes and shakes, so much that it hurts...__**)**_

_**Daremo kidzukanai fukai kanashimi mo (**__Even my deep sadness that no one else realized__**)**_

_**Nazeka tsutawatte shimau (**__was somehow conveyed to him.__**)**_

_**Maru de saiai no hito no you ni (**__it's as if he was my true beloved.__**)**_

_**Watashi to iu chiisa na hoshi (**__A small star in a galaxy, that I call myself__**)**_

_**Hitoshizuku no ai ga mebaeta (**__Has sprouted up with a single droplet of love.__**)**_

_**Ushinau mono osorete wa tatakaenai (**__If you fear of losing things, then you cannot fight.__**)**_

_**Tsuki ni inori hoshi ni inori (**__So make a prayer to the moon, and a prayer to the stars__**)**_

_**Yukubeki michi mune ni kizamu (**__and engrave the path you should be travelling down in your heart.__**)**_

_**Namida ga atsuku naru wake wa... (**__The reason for my tear's heating up__**)**_

_**Unmei no Piece of Love (**__is a piece of love from fate.__**)**_

_**Meguriaeta Piece of Heart (**__Touching upon, and meeting with a piece of my heart.__**)**_

_**Subete miseta nara kokoro ubawareru...? (**__If I showed you everything, would you steal my heart away...?__**)**_

_**Keredo nugisutete yukeru (**__But, I can't just let it be flung away like that.__**)**_

_**Sore wa saiai no hito to dakara (**__Because this is something to share with my true beloved.__**)**_

_**Ookisugiru yume wa tooku tachidomaru wake ni wa ikanai (**__My dream too large is far away, and I can't just stand still now.__**)**_

_**Watashi no kokoro dake mitasu ai naraba...? (**__Is there enough love to fill only my heart alone...?__**)**_

_**Kaze ni inori ame ni inori (**__Sending a prayer to the wind, and rain__**)**_

_**Arashi wo ima yokan shitemo (**__Even if I predict that a storm would come now,__**)**_

_**Saigo wa hitotsu ni naru no ga... (**__in the end, to become one...__**)**_

_**Hontou no Piece of Love (**__is a true piece of love.__**)**_

_**Deau tame no Pain of Love (**__It's the pain of love that comes with meeting anyone.__**)**_

_**Watashi to iu chiisa na hoshi (**__A small star in a galaxy, that I call myself__**)**_

_**Hitoshizuku no ai ga mebaeta (**__Has sprouted up with a single droplet of love.__**)**_

_**Ushinau mono osorete wa tatakaenai (**__If you fear of losing things, then you cannot fight.__**)**_

_**Tsuki ni inori hoshi ni inori (**__So make a prayer to the moon, and a prayer to the stars__**)**_

_**Yukubeki michi mune ni kizamu (**__and engrave the path you should be travelling down in your heart.__**)**_

_**Namida ga atsuku naru wake wa... (**__The reason for my tear's heating up__**)**_

_**Unmei no Piece of Love (**__is a piece of love from fate.__**)**_

_**Meguriaeta Piece of Heart (**__Touching upon, and meeting with a piece of my heart.__**)**_

***AUTHORS NOTE:** This song is called 'Piece of Love' , it's from an anime called mermaid melody.* ***DISCLAIMER: **I do not own Persona 3 Portable or 'Piece of Love'* *If you wish to listen to this song go to (www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=qmJrosIVmA0) Replace "(dot)" with "."*

*Sniffle*

_HUH? Is someone crying? Was it THAT bad?_

"T-That was...BEAUTIFUL!" Rise cried. "WAANHHHHH!"

Rise hugged Teddie who was also crying.

"That was lovely Arisato!" Mitsuru clapped.

After hearing Mitsuru clap, everyone started to and soon it became a small applause.

"Heh, I guess I didn't lose my touch after all." I smile sheepishly. "Thanks for listening, and I'm glad you liked it!"

Fuuka, Yukari, Chie, Mitsuru, Yukiko, Rise, and Teddie were all reaching for tissues in an attempt to dry the tears from their eyes.

"Man, hearing that song makes me feel like trying harder for some reason." Kanji said.

"Me too, I feel like I could climb over a thousand walls." Ken said.

"C'mon guys, it wasn't that moving..." I said.

"You're like the perfect woman Minako-san. You can sing, cook, fight, plus you have a pretty face and a nice body if I do say so myself." Yosuke praised.

"Thanks for the complements but I'm not perfect in the least bit. Nobody is. Like for example...I suck at drawing." I said.

I got up and got a pen and paper from the front desk, returned to the coffee table and drew a simple cat.

"Umm...is that a cow?" Junpei asked.

"No...I think it's a horse." Yukari said.

"What are you talking about? It clearly looks like a pig." Seta said.

"I think it looks more like a dog to me..." Fuuka mumbled.

"Could it be a hamster Arisato?" Mitsuru asked.

"Nah, I think it's a rabbit." Akihiko stated.

"It's probably a hippo." Ryoji said.

Everyone had their chances at guessing what I drew, but none of them got it right. The more they guessed the crazier each guess got.

_Oh man, I knew that I was horrible at drawing but is my cat seriously that unrecognisable? From the look on Shinji's face I bet he knows what it is and decided not to say it out loud._

"Minako, hurry up and tell these idiots what it is so we can get back to training." Shinji demanded.

"Well...it's a cat..." I said nervously.

"..."

"..."

Everyone just bursted out laughing.

"HAHAHAHA! That's a cat? You've got to be kidding Mina-tan!" Junpei laughed. "OW!"

Junpei laughed so hard that he fell over and hit his head on the coffee table.

"I told you that I sucked at drawing!" I stated. "A-Anyways...we should get back to training!"

I waited till everyone finished laughing and gripping their sides from laughing so much.

"S-So hurry up and get in there!" I demanded.

Shinji had already gone back into his maze while everyone was laughing.

Most of them were still giggling on their way into the maze.

_Heh, you won't be laughing for long...wait until you get to the third stage, then we'll see who's laughing!_

"Wish me luck Minako." Akihiko gave me a kiss then headed back into the maze.

A few hours later...

"I knew that you'd be the first again Shinji." I chuckled. "Did you have fun in there?"

"Hardly." Shinji gave the ol' grumpy face and sat at the back of the lounge.

"Wow, Shinji is a pro at this..." Ryoji said in amazement.

"That's Shinji alright." I praised.

Another couple hours fly by...

At this point the same people made it out first, Seta, Naoto, Mitsuru, Akihiko, and Shinji.

A couple hours after that everyone finished their mazes.

"Wow, you guys all made it, I'm amazed that you got this far in 2 days." I said. "Well then, it's already late so why don't you all go home and call it a day. We can start stage 3 tomorrow."

Everyone said their goodbyes and left.

"Hey Akihiko..." I called.

"What is it Minako?" he asked.

"Is it alright if I spend the night at your apartment? I've never seen it so...I was wondering..."I mumbled.

"Sure." Akihiko said and led me out the door.

Akihiko's Apartment...

"Wow, it's a nice place, and it's clean!" I smiled.

"Hey...what's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"Nothing..." I chuckled. "C'mon!"

I dragged Akihiko by the arm and pulled him into his bedroom.

"W-What? H-Hey!" he stuttered. "Let me at least shower first!"

I shut him up by kissing him, more passionately than ever.

"That was a reward for finishing the second stage." I whispered in his ear.

He started to blush then kissed me more passionately than I kissed him. I broke away then closed his bedroom door, hoping to have some fun without making too much noise.

(**Author's note:** Okay ladies and gentlemen, we all know what is going to happen but for those who don't know I'm going to be blunt about it. They're going have SEX. Unfortunately I don't write sex scenes so you can just leave that part to your imagination )

The next morning Akihiko woke up alone in bed.

"Hmm...? Where did Minako go?" he rubbed his eyes sleepily and got out of bed. "I smell pancakes..."

Akihiko walked into the kitchen and there I was, cooking pancakes for him.

"Finally you're up!" I said.

"Morning to you too Minako, last night was amazing..." he walked up to me and gave me a kiss.

"Hurry up and eat the pancakes before they get cold so we can head back to the dorm and tell you guys about the third stage." I said.

Akihiko practically inhaled the pancakes and we headed for the dorm. Seta and his gang were already there.

"Morning guys!" I waved.

"Morning Minako-san, we're ready for the next stage." Naoto stated.

"Alright then!" I said cheerfully. "Again you're going to use the battle realms for the last stage."

"What? Again? We're not going to do more battling are we?" Yukari asked.

"Hahaha, you've already mastered power and endurance. This time you're going to work on concentration and harmony." I said. "You're going to synchronize with your personas and make an energy ball according to your elements."

"An energy ball?" Kanji asked.

"Yep, hmm...this will be hard to explain, so I better just show you." I said.

I put the evoker to my temple and summoned.

"Odin!" I called.

Odin appeared right beside me, then I concentrated Odin's power into my hand, it took the form of a yellow glowing ball.

"Woah!" Yosuke gasped.

"This is an example of what you'll be making. The colors will differ depending on your elements. Red for fire, blue for ice, green for wind, yellow for electricity, black for darkness, white for light, purple for almighty, orange for physical, and pink for supportive." I said. "However, for someone like Ken, he can choose to make either light based energy ball or an electrical based one since he has an equal amount of both light and electricity."

"I see...this sounds tough..." Chie sighed.

"Yes it is, but once you master this you'll be able to practice fusing with your personas." I said cheerfully. "Mind you though, that this is the hardest stage."

"Great..." Yosuke groaned.

"Hmph, once I master this I can fuse with Caesar!" Akihiko said confidently.

"Ryoji, re-program all the realms again and make it into an empty white room." I said. "It has to be quiet in there also so they can properly concentrate."

"But what did you mean why 'synchronize with our personas'?" Fuuka asked.

"As in, as soon as you get in the realm, your personas will obtain a physical body. You must synchronize with him or her. You must match each other's pace. Your minds must become one." I said.

"That's kind of hard to follow..."Ken said.

"What I mean is that you've got to think like your persona and he or she must think like you." I said. "Something like that. Once you're totally in sync you can start concentrating on making that energy ball. Now hop to it!"

Everyone waited until Ryoji was done re-programming their realms then headed in, ready to take on the challenge.

"We'll see how long it'll take to finish this one." I said. "Ryoji, you can rest if you like, I can take over from here."

"Thank you! Finally..." Ryoji sighed.

Ryoji walked over to the couch and took a nap.

"Rest while you can, I sense a long road ahead of us."


	6. Chapter 6 Arcanas and College

By the end of the day, they were all able to synchronize with their personas. But when they tried to make the energy ball, none of them prevailed.

"So, let me get this straight...none of you were able to start an energy ball?" I asked.

"I created a very small one; it was like a small blue light in my hand." Mitsuru said.

"I'm not surprised Mitsuru-sempai, you were controlling your persona far longer than any of us, plus you have great concentration skills." I praised.

Mitsuru smiled at the praise coming from her leader.

"Well, don't get discouraged guys, as I told you before, this is the hardest stage." I stated.

"Oh man, concentrating isn't my good point." Junpei sighed.

"Me neither..." Kanji said.

"Is it possible to give us some sort of hint to help us move along faster?" Yukari asked.

"The only thing I can say is that the better you are in harmony with your persona, the faster it will be to be able to create the energy ball." I said. "But since SEES has more experience and had their personas a lot longer than you guys have, it will take a bit longer."

"Aww man...but what about me? I'm a shadow, shadows and personas are the same right?" Teddie asked.

"Indeed they are, people who learn to control their 'shadow' are persona users. Hmm, your case is quite interesting though, you might be able to surpass your friends since you are a shadow. But you will still need a great amount of concentration." I said.

"Great, so Ted is going to beat us in the 3rd stage?" Yosuke sighed.

"Not quite, you all have a fair chance." Ryoji stepped into the conversation.

"Hey Minako-san, can you show us how to make one again? It might help my mind get a good idea of how to do it." Seta said.

"Yes, it would be a great help Arisato." Mitsuru grinned.

"Alright then, which element shall I make this time?" I asked.

Everyone was thinking on which element I should make next.

"How about fire?" Yukiko asked.

"Alright, this time I'll do it slowly and elaborate on it." I put the evoker to my head and summoned. "Seth!"

A black dragon of the moon arcana appeared behind me.

"Calm yourself...feel at peace..." I took deep breaths. "Harmonize with your persona...feel for it's energy inside you until you feel a pulse."

"A pulse?" Junpei asked.

"Shut up Stupei! You'll distract her!" Yukari snapped.

Mitsuru and Shinji glared at both of them to be quiet.

"Once you feel a pulse, slowly concentrate it in your hands, as if to hold it." I breathed.

Suddenly a faint glow appeared in my hands, everyone was watching with their full attention. Then the glow got bigger until it turn into a red glowing energy ball.

"Wow..." Chie stammered.

"So this is what Koro-chan and mine will look like..." Yukiko looked at her hands.

The energy ball disappeared and so did Seth.

"Careful not to directly concentrate it INTO your hands." I warned.

"What do you mean by that?" Yosuke asked.

"Hmm, it's hard to explain so I'll just demonstrate again." I pulled the evoker to my head once more. "Suparna!"

A bird like persona appeared this time. I concentrated Suparna's Garudyne into my hands. A gush of green wind flowed peacefully yet aggressively around my hands and wrists.

"Ryoji, can you please create some sort of metal plank in front of me?" I asked.

"No problem." Ryoji materialized a large thick sheet of steel that stood in my way.

I darted towards it and slashed them with my arms, creating a large X shaped gash on the steel.

"Wow, if concentrating our power like that into our arms and legs can do that much damage to such a large piece of steel, what is the purpose of creating the energy ball?" Naoto questioned.

"Easy, I'll show you." I summoned yet another persona. "Helel!"

Helel appeared behind me as I concentrated an almighty energy ball using Morning star.

"Almighty this time Minako-san?" Naoto asked.

"Yes, I thought it would be easier for you to understand why an energy ball is more effective by using your element." I stated.

I stood in front of the steel and reared my right hand with the energy ball then hit the metal with it.

***BOOM***

From the impact, a small smokescreen covered the metal, then soon vanished revealing what was left of it.

"Damn..." Akihiko was surprised.

What was left of the steel plank was a gigantic hole right in the middle of it; the rims of the hole were slightly melted.

Everyone was in total shock.

"So, now you know why?" I asked Naoto.

"I saw that it was more powerful, but other than that what is the difference?" Naoto questioned yet again.

"The fact that creating an energy ball is 3 times harder than is it to simply concentrate power into one's arms or legs." I stated. "That's why creating the energy ball is a much more effective way to harmonize with your personas, which is imperative for persona fusion."

"I-I see..." Naoto looked down.

"I have a question Minako-san." Seta stepped forward. "If I can use multiple personas like you, does that mean I can fuse with more than one persona at a time?"

"No, that power solely belongs to me." I stated.

"How come? We're both wild cards...why can you do it but not me?" Seta asked.

"Because I am the arcana of the Universe, and you are the arcana of the World." I simply said. "Because I'm the Universe arcana, I have a much wider power possibility with my personas."

"What do you mean a 'wider possibility'?" Seta glared.

"Don't worry; I'm not calling you weak or anything. But because I'm the Universe arcana, I can use fusion spells, which lets to fuse the power of 2 different personas to create a new move. For instance, if I use Orpheus' and Asparas' power together, I can use a fusion spell called 'Cadenza'." I said. "The power of fusion spells is what lets me do a double fusion. I can only fuse with 1 or 2 personas at a time, I cannot fuse with 3 or more however."

"I-I see..." Seta looked down at his feet then suddenly looked at me again. "But what is 'Cadenza' anyway?"

"Cadenza is a spell that mixes 'Mediarama' and 'Masakukaja' together." I replied. "Anything else?"

"N-No...I think we're good for now." Seta said.

"Wait a second; I have a question Minako-san." Chie said. "What's with the 'Arcana' business?"

"I would like to know as well." Naoto stated. "Since our leader has an arcana, does this mean we each have one as well?"

"Excellent deduction Naoto-chan, yes it does mean you have an arcana, each of you do." I stated. "Junpei and Yosuke-kun here are the Magician Arcana, which represents creation and individuality."

"Sweet!" Junpei cheered.

"Nice..." Yosuke smirked.

"Teddie-kun and Akihiko are the Star Arcana, which represents faith."

"Wow!" Teddie smiled.

"Not bad..." Akihiko chuckled.

"Fuuka and Yukiko-chan are the Priestess Arcana, which represents balance."

"I-I never knew!" Fuuka stuttered.

"Me neither..." Yukiko said.

"Rise-chan and Yukari are the Lovers Arcana, which represents emotions...especially love."

"Woah..." Rise sounding surprised.

"Hmm..." Yukari hummed.

"Kanji-kun here is the Emperor Arcana, which represents the power of the mind."

"Cool..." Kanji stared.

"Mitsuru-sempai is the Empress Arcana, which represents the gift of life."

"..." Mitsuru smiled.

"Chie-chan is the Chariot Arcana, which represents force."

"That explains a lot." Yosuke smiled.

"S-Shut up Yosuke!" Chie snapped.

"Koromaru is the Strength Arcana, which represents emotion control and belief."

*Bark!*

"Shinji is the Moon Arcana, which represents fertility of imagination."

"Hmph." Shinji glared.

"Naoto is the Fortune Arcana, which represents connection."

"How interesting..." Naoto grinned.

"Ryoji is the Death Arcana, which represents transformation."

"I thought it just represented death, but I feel better now that it means something different." Ryoji smiled.

"Seta-kun is the World Arcana, which represents unified creation."

"I see..." Seta mumbled.

"Aigis is the Aeon Arcana, which represents honesty and sincerity."

"My..." Aigis was astonished.

"And lastly, I am the Universe Arcana, which represents cataclysm and control." I explained. "Now, anymore more questions?"

"No, I think you've answered them all, thank you." Naoto bowed.

"No problem, now that it's getting late, head back home for a good night's rest; we can continue tomorrow." I said.

"Ok then, goodnight!" Seta bowed before leaving with his friends.

"All the meanings to the arcana were quite interesting..." Mitsuru said. "Me...represent of the gift of life?"

"Gift of life? Don't you mean gift of **death** and **torture**? Her executions are brutal..." Junpei whispered to Akihiko.

"What was that Iori?" Mitsuru glared.

"Nothing Ma'am!" Junpei saluted.

Everyone in the room laughed, and then soon said their good nights as they headed home or to bed. I ended sleeping at Akihiko's apartment again.

For the next few days, most of them were able to create a very small version of my energy ball. SEES had a bit of an easier time since they were born with the potential, the Investigation team was still struggling but started to get the hang of it.

4 days later they claimed to have mastered creating the energy ball, so I decided to put them to the test. It was a Sunday so they didn't have college that day.

"Okay guys, show me what you've got! Oh, but one at a time please." I stated.

"I'll go first! Caesar!" Akihiko summoned.

_Akihiko created a fairly big energy ball...I knew he could do it!_

"Excellent! Next!"

"It's On! Trismagistus!" Junpei called.

_He created a decent sized one, bigger than I expected._

*Bark!* *Howl! (Cerberus!)*

_Koromaru made a good one._

"I can do this! Isis!" Yukari commanded.

_A nice one from Yukari too!_

"Obey my command! Artemisia!" Mitsuru summoned.

_Woah, a really big one, nothing less from Mitsuru-sempai._

"Juno!" Fuuka called.

_Wow, a good one from Fuuka, she must've worked hard._

"Kala-nemi!" Ken called.

_A pretty good one from Ken..._

"Are you ready for this? Castor!" Shinjiro commanded.

_Nice...a really good from Shinji, thank goodness his persona doesn't go berserk anymore._

"Let's do this Susano-O!" Yosuke cheered.

_A decent one from Yosuke._

"Suzuka Gongen!" Chie summoned.

_Not bad for Chie-chan._

"I need your help! Athena!" Aigis called.

_A good one from Aigis..._

"Bear-sona!" Teddie summoned.

_A pretty good one from Teddie-kun, better than I thought..._

"Amaterasu!" Yukiko called.

_Hmmm...not bad for Yukiko-chan._

"Rokuten Maou!" Kanji called.

_Not bad for Kanji-kun._

"Yamato-Takeru!" Naoto summoned.

_Wow, a good one from Naoto-chan!_

"Persona!" Rise called.

_Pretty good for Rise._

"Izanagi-no-Okami!" Seta commanded.

_A good one from Seta-kun, nothing less from a fellow wild card wielder. _

"Wow, you guys all passed! And congratulations Mitsuru-sempai, for creating the biggest one! Second goes in a tie for Akihiko and Shinji!" I praised.

Mitsuru smiled.

"Aww...I thought I actually might've beaten Shinji this time..." Akihiko sighed. "Plus I lost to Mitsuru..."

"Tch, that's what you're worried about Aki? Of course you'd lose to Mitsuru; she was a persona user for much longer than you." Shinji said.

Akihiko and Shinji glared at each other.

"I say this calls for a celebration!" Junpei cheered.

"How about the beach then? 2 weeks from now you should all have a 3 day break from college." Mitsuru suggested. "And if we manage to be able to fuse with our personas by then, I'll prepare a trip to my vacation home in Yakushima."

"The beach?" Yosuke asked excitedly.

"WOOHOO!" Everyone cheered at the idea of going to the beach.

"Oh and Arisato, you should enroll in port island college along with Souji, his friends, Takeba, and Yamagishi." Mitsuru said.

"Good idea..." I said.

"I'll prepare the necessary paperwork for you, pay your tuitions and a monthly allowance in your bank account from the Kirijo group." Mitsuru stated.

"OH NO! I can't accept that, you'd be doing enough for me by handling the paperwork! I can't let you give me a monthly allowance and play my tuition! I still have some money from Tartarus I've saved up...plus I could get a part-time job!" I said.

"I must insist to let me help you Arisato, you've helped us in so many ways, and you must be tired from teaching us all the time." Mitsuru said.

"B-But..." I stuttered.

"No buts Arisato! I shall handle it immediately!" Mitsuru said happily, already whipping out her phone to make the preparations.

"Okay then...thanks sempai..." I bowed.

"No problem Arisato." Mitsuru grinned.

"Woah, that must mean we can all go to school together now!" Yukari said happily. "It'll be like old times huh Fuuka?"

"Yes!" Fuuka said happily.

_Wait a minute...college means studying, studying means all nighters, all nighters mean projects and exams...NOOOOOOO!_


	7. Chapter 7 Fusion complete and the Beach

And so my days at college began...

"Good morning class." the teacher said.

"**Good morning Mr. Yamato!**" Everyone bowed.

"Today we have a transfer student; she passed the qualifying exams with perfect scores, so please welcome her." Yamato announced.

I walked into the class, only to get a bunch of stares...again...

"Hello, my name is Minako Arisato! It's a pleasure to meet you all." I introduced. "Please guide me through the year!"

"Whoa...check out the hot babe!" a male student whispered.

"You think she's single? I want to ask her out man!" another male student whispered.

"I hope so, hot girls like that are hard to come by, this may be our chance!" a third male student whispered.

"I think she's even hotter than Yukari-san..." a 4th male student whispered.

"I think she has a high chance of becoming 'Miss Campus'." The 1st male student whispered.

"Yea that's true! But there's another hot babe in the first year." The 3rd male student whispered.

"Oh yeah that's right, Naoto Shirogane right?" the 4th one said.

"It's great that there are so many hot girls in our college! There's Amagi, Satonaka, Yamagishi, Takeba, Shirogane, Kujikawa, Aigis-san, and now there's Arisato!" the 2nd one said. "Plus I heard that they're all single."

_I can hear you guys you know...learn to whisper properly..._

"Quiet back there! Anyways, Arisato...you can sit next to Aigis-san and Takeba." Yamato said.

"Okay, thank you." I bowed.

I sat next to Aigis and Yukari. Class wasn't as boring as I thought; soon lunch came so we hung out with Seta's gang.

"How was your first day Minako-san?" Seta asked.

"Pretty good, except for the fact that the guys in my class kept whispering about me." I sighed. "They also whispered about all of you guys too."

"Whispering about all of us?" Chie asked.

"Yea, they were saying something about hot girls in the college and how one of us is probably going to take the title of 'Miss Campus'...or something close to that anyway." I said.

"Miss Campus? What's that?" Yukiko asked.

"You've never heard of the 'Miss Campus' title?" Yosuke looked shocked. "That title goes to the prettiest and most popular girl in college!"

"I personally I no interest in the title." Naoto stated.

"Me neither." I said.

"I do! It'd be cool to be called miss campus!" Rise grinned.

"You're going to have some tough competition for the title Rise..." Yosuke sighed.

"That's true...aww man..." Rise frowned.

"Didn't they say something about all of us being single?" Yukari asked.

"You overheard?" I asked.

"A bit, though I didn't really pay much attention to them." Yukari answered.

"Yea, they heard that we're all single. Too bad for them though, Naoto-chan and I aren't available. I have Akihiko and Naoto-chan has Seta-kun." I stated.

"H-How did..." Seta widened his eyes.

"Woman's intuition Seta-kun!" I smiled.

Seta and Naoto both blushed a bit.

"Oh crap, lunch break is almost over guys! We better get going back to class or we're gunna be late!" Kanji exclaimed.

Everyone hurried back to class, after the day was over; we all headed back to the dorm so they could start fusing with their personas.

"Okay guys! We're all going to learn how to fuse with our personas! Finally!" I stated. "Now, all of you will go back into your realms and concentrate on becoming one with your persona, in both body and mind."

"We can do this!" Junpei excitedly ran into his realm.

"Ugh...there goes Stupei..." Yukari sighed and went into her realm.

They were in there until the evening, later I called them out to see who was able to do it. Turns out only Mitsuru, Shinji, and Akihiko were able to do it in the end, the others we're close but weren't completely fused.

_I guess it'll take another day or so for the others to be able to do it. I'm not too surprised about those three being able to do it; they have more experience as persona users after all._

"Okay Akihiko, Mitsuru-sempai, and Shinji; show me your fusion forms!" I commanded.

"It's fusion time Caesar!" Akihiko called.

Akihiko's normal clothes disappeared; in its place Caesar's armour appeared. He wore roman like armour with sandals that weaved around his chins and knees.

"Whoa...that's so cool!" Yosuke said.

"I can't wait to be able to fuse with my persona!" Junpei said excitedly.

"Your turn Mitsuru-sempai." I turned to her.

"Fuse with me Artemisia!" Mitsuru called.

Mitsuru then wore Artemisia's dress and red mask.

"Wow, that's amazing Mitsuru-sempai!" Fuuka was amazed.

"Tch...Castor!" Shinji summoned.

Shinji wore a black shirt and pants. The shirt sleeves had 2 black belts on each side, so did the thighs of his pants. He also had a black belt around his waist to keep his pants up, the belt had a horse head belt buckle.

_Awesome...Shinji looks badass._

"Cool..." Ken said.

"Wow, you three successfully fused with your personas, so how do you feel?" I asked.

"I feel power running through my veins." Akihiko said.

"Even more powerful than I ever imagined." Mitsuru smiled.

"Tch...not bad." Shinji grumbled.

_Again with the 'Tch'? Is that his catch phrase or something?_

Within the next 2 days they were all able to fuse with their personas.

Yukari wore an Egyptian dress with a tiara with a red oval crystal floating above it.

Junpei had red armour, a golden helmet and golden wings sticking out from his shoulders.

Koromaru wore a silver metal collar and Cerberus' armour, there were also chains connecting the collar to his shoulders.

Fuuka had Juno's mask, her red and blue dress, plus her odd wings coming out of her back.

Aigis wore a senators' helm and blue-white robes.

Ken had red armour plates coving his chest, head, wrists, and chins.

Seta fused with Izanami-no-Okami, so Seta had a white trench coat and mask.

Yosuke wore a blue suit with red boots and gloves; there was also a spiked ring that surrounded him.

Chie wore black, grey, and white samurai armour.

Yukiko had a pure white dress and a silver chain of metal plates surrounding her back side, connected by her wrists.

Teddie wore blue, white, and red armour with yellow clawed gloves.

Kanji wore black metal armour with a fire pattern on it.

Rise had a sensor mask covering her eyes and wore a beige-white dress.

Naoto wore a white helmet shaped like a teradactyl dinosaur head and had a prince-like suit on with wings attached to her hands and wrists.

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** If you're having a hard time imagining what they look like, search for their persona pictures, which might help you get a good idea.)

"Wow, you guys all did it!" I praised.

"Does this mean...?" Junpei wondered.

"Yes, it means next we we're going to Yakushima." Mitsuru announced.

"ALRIGHT!" Junpei cheered.

"Oh, I gotta buy a swimsuit!" I remembered. "Naoto-chan, do you want to come with me? I have a feeling that you don't have one either."

"B-But..." Naoto stuttered.

"No buts! You're going to come with me and get a swimsuit!" I declared. "We'll go after school tomorrow!"

**The next day at Paulownia Mall...**

"Okay Naoto-chan, let's get you a swimsuit!" I said.

"I don't think this is a good idea Minako-san..." Naoto sighed.

"But don't you want Seta-kun to think you're cute? C'mon! All the girls are going to wear one, it's no big deal!" I said.

"Okay...fine...but I don't have very good taste in this sort of thing..." Naoto frowned.

"That's why I'm here! I don't have one either so it's a good opportunity to go together and get one! And I think I know just the color that will suit you best!" I said. "Navy blue! It'll match your eyes and hair."

"O-Okay." Naoto stuttered.

"No need to be nervous! Let's go!" I pulled Naoto into the swimsuit section.

After about an hour we finally found the right swimsuits and paid for them.

"O-Oh Minako-san, you don't have to pay for me!" Naoto said.

"Don't worry, consider this a gift from me Naoto-chan." I handed the clerk the money.

"T-Thank you very much Minako-san..." Naoto bowed, holding the bag containing her new swimsuit close to her chest.

The day that we were going to Yakushima came, we had Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday off so we left Friday afternoon right after school. Mitsuru had prepared a small yacht to take us to Yakushima. We arrived there around the evening so everyone was tired. We even brought along Chidori, Junpei's wife.

"Whoa, this mansion is huge!" Yosuke was shocked.

Everyone in the investigation team was shocked. Soon after they were all led to their rooms by Mitsuru's maids and butlers. The next day they headed off to the beach.

"Wow, I've never seen a better beach than this one!" Yosuke said.

"Yea, it's amazing here..." Kanji stared at the surroundings.

"Sup guys, how do ya like Yakushima?" Junpei asked.

"It's awesome here, but what I'm really waiting for is the hot babes in swimsuits!" Ryoji drooled over the thought.

"Me too! I'm beary excited to see them!" Teddie ran around like a little kid.

"I heard that Naoto and Minako-san got new swimsuits, I've never actually seen Naoto in a swimsuit actually..." Seta said.

"Hey guys..." Akihiko greeted. "C'mon Shinji, stop sulking and get over here!"

"Yeah yeah, I can't believe that I actually came with you guys instead of staying back at the dorm...and Aki...a speedo? Seriously?" Shinji sighed.

"Hey! I need to train, so this swimsuit gets rid of water resistance you know!" Aki snapped back.

"Man...How long are they going to take to get here?" Junpei complained.

"They'll be here any minute Junpei." Ken replied.

A few minutes after, Yukari came.

"And here's contestant #1! Yukari Takeba! As you can see she chose a bold design, a bikini top and a denim shortshort bottom! It takes a lot of confidence to pull off a swimsuit like that!" Junpei announced.

"Ugh, talk about major de ja vu..." Yukari sighed, and then saw Fuuka and Mitsuru coming their way.

"Here's contestant # 2! Fuuka Yamagishi! She chose a delicate blue 2 piece swimsuit design! And Contestant #3! Mitsuru Kirijo! As you can see she chose a pure white tropical design!" Junpei announced.

"Are you asking for an execution Iori?" Mitsuru asked as Fuuka hid behind her, blushing.

"Here's contestant #4! Chie Satonaka! She chose a green sports bra top and a blue shortshort bottom!" Yosuke continued. "And contestant #5! Yukiko Amagi! She chose a white skirt bikini outlined in pink! And here comes another one! Contestant #6! Rise Kujikawa! She chose a bold design of an orange striped bikini! "

"What are you doing Yosuke?" Chie sighed. "Did you hit your head with a coconut or something?"

"Hell no!" Yosuke yelled.

"Here she is! My wife! Contestant #7! Chidori! She chose to wear a black and white 2 piece swim suit! And here's Contestant #8! Aigis! She chose to wear a baby blue summer dress because she's a robot, but she still looks awesome!" Junpei praised.

"Why is Junpei announcing what I am wearing?" Aigis asked.

"Because it's Stupei, Ace defective..." Yukari laughed.

"Hey! I resent that!" Junpei complained.

"She's right you know..." Chidori said.

"Not you too!" Junpei groaned.

"Hey Aigis, where's Naoto-san and Minako?" Akihiko asked.

"They will be coming any moment now." Aigis replied.

We came just after Aigis answered Akihiko.

"Hey guys! What do you think of my new swimsuit?" I posed.

I wore a black bikini, the front and back of my top were connected by gold rings, and so were the sides of my bottoms.

"Well? What do you think? Shinji? Akihiko?" I asked.

Shinji and Akihiko just blushed.

"From the looks of your faces, I'll take that as a yes!" I smiled happily. "Oh! And Seta-kun! Here's Naoto-chan!"

Naoto came out of nowhere from behind me. She wore a navy blue 2 piece swimsuit; it was very similar to Fuuka's except for the bottoms, they were a bit frilly.

"Whoa... is that Naoto-kun?" Yosuke was very surprised. So were the rest of the investigation team, they've never seen Naoto in a swimsuit and never thought they would ever see her in one.

Seta blushed a very deep red.

"Y-You look cute Naoto..." Seta praised.

"T-Thank you Sempai..." Naoto blushed a bit as well.

_OMG! This couple is soo cute!_

"Umm...Akihiko?" I asked.

"Huh?" Akihiko turned to me.

"Why are you wearing a speedo...again?" I asked.

"Because I'm going to train and this swimsuit pre..."

"Prevents water resistance, yea I know..." I sighed.

"Is something wrong?" Akihiko asked.

"Nope, not anymore!" I said cheerfully. "You're coming with me! You're going to change into the swimsuit I bought for you with Naoto-chan!"

"W-What?" Akihiko was taken by surprise.

I dragged him back to the mansion and forced him to put on a normal pair of black and blue swim trunks. Then I dragged him all the way back.

"There you go! You look much better this way Akihiko!" I praised. "Now go talk to the guys for a sec while I talk to the girls!"

"Okay...?" Akihiko walked over to the group of boys discussing something.

"What are you guys doing?" Akihiko asked.

"Thinking on how lucky we are to be surrounded by a bunch of hot babes." Junpei answered.

"But Junpei, you have a wife..." Ken pointed out.

"Don't worry Ken! I only have eyes for my Chidorita!" Junpei grinned.

"Doesn't she hate it when you call her that?" Ken asked.

"Yeah, but she calls me 'Stupei' sometimes like Yuka-tan, so I call her 'Chidorita to get back at her." Junpei smiled.

**Meanwhile, in the girl's conversation...**

"Wow, we're surrounded by hot guys!" Rise said excitedly. "Especially Aragaki-san, Sanada-san, and Seta-sempai!"

"Yea I know huh! They all have greatly toned bodies!" I said. "I'm so lucky to have a great guy like Akihiko! And Naoto-chan is lucky to have Seta-kun!"

"Y-Yes I a-am..." Naoto blushed.

"Then does that mean Aragaki-san is free?" Rise asked hopefully.

"Sorry to say Rise-san but Shinjiro-sempai already has someone he loves..." Yukari said.

"Aww man...who is it?" Rise asked.

"It's Minako; it's a one-sided love though. Minako loves Shinji, but more like a friend than a boyfriend since she has Akihiko-sempai." Yukari whispered in Rise's ear. "It's so obvious to everyone except Minako though, plus if any other girl tried to get close and clingy with him he'd just give em' a death glare."

"Dang..."Rise sighed.

"What are you guys whispering about?" I asked.

"NOTHING!" Yukari and Rise said simultaneously.

"Okay...?"


	8. Chapter 8 The Fishing Contest

We all had fun for the first day, in the evening we decided to play some games. Yukari insisted that I do some karaoke.

"C'mon Minako! Sing for us!" Yukari pleaded.

Everyone cheered for me to sing again.

"Okay okay okay! I'll sing..." I sighed; I looked through the karaoke song list until I found the perfect song for an occasion like this. "I guess I'll sing 'Legend of Mermaid', I used to sing this all the time when I was little when I came to the beach."

Everyone took a seat around the karaoke machine.

"I'm only going to sing this one song okay? Here I go!" I announced.

Yukari pushed the **GO **button so the song started to play and I began to sing.

_**Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete tooi misaki wo mezashiteta **_

_**Yoake mae kikoeta MERODII **_

_**Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta **_

_**Higashi no sora he to habataku toritachi **_

_**Saa takarajima ni nukeru chikamichi.**_

Nanatsu no umi no rakuen 

_**Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaeru tame inochi ga mata umareru **_

_**Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA **_

_**Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo **_

_**Watashi wa wasurenai **_

_**Yukkuri to kumo wa nagarete niji no hate ni kiete itta **_

_**Hoshitachi wa shinju no you ni **_

_**Tsuyoi hikari hanachihajimeru**_

Minami no sora kara kikoeru kuchibue 

_**Sou otona ni naru toki ga kiteita**_

Kiseki wo meguru bouken  


_**Yasashii haha no negai wo mune ni idakinagara daremo ga tabi wo shiteru **_

_**Hoshi furu yoru no FANTAJIA **_

_**Afureru namida to inori dare ni mo wakaranai **_

_**Mirai wo terashiteru**_

Nanatsu no umi no rakuen 

_**Arashi no yoru no ato ni wa ai wo tsutaeru tame inochi ga mata umareru **_

_**Nanatsu no kuni no MERODIA **_

_**Daremo ga itsuka wa koko wo tabidatsu hi ga kitemo **_

_**Watashi wa wasurenai**_

Kiseki wo meguru bouken 

_**Yasashii haha no negai wo mune ni idakinagara daremo ga tabi wo shiteru **_

_**Hoshi furu yoru no FANTAJIA **_

_**Afureru namida to inori dare ni mo wakaranai **_

_**Mirai wo terashiteru**_

(English Version)

_The rainbow wind blows at a far off coast.  
Before dawn, there was a melody I heard.  
It's a very nostalgic song.  
The birds that fly towards the eastern sky  
now escape to the treasure island using this shortcut,  
where the paradise of the seven seas lies._

After the stormy night, to tell you my love I will be born again.  
Even if there comes a day where everyone  
is to journey away from here, as long as we sing the melody of the seven countries,  
I'll never forget

Clouds slowly float away, vanishing away as they aim for the rainbow's end.  
And then the stars, like pearls  
can start releasing a powerful, wondrous light.  
From the southern sky, a whistling sound could be heard.  
Yes, this is the time that's finally come, the time for me to become an adult.

While embracing the kind mother's wishes in her heart  
She wished that everyone would journey on a miracle-filled adventure.  
With over flowing tears and prayers, I just don't know anymore.

But there still remains a fantasy of a night where stars fall  
for the shining future  
To the paradise of the seven seas!

After the stormy night, to tell you my love I will be born again.  
Even if there comes a day where everyone  
is to journey away from here, as long as we sing the melody of the seven countries,  
I'll never forget

While embracing the kind mother's wishes in her heart  
She wished that everyone would journey on a miracle-filled adventure.  
With over flowing tears and prayers, I just don't know anymore.

But there still remains a fantasy of a night where stars fall  
for the shining future.

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** 'Legend of Mermaid' is from the anime called Mermaid Melody. If you wish to listen to the song, go to www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=Yf7W4FnO5Yk ...Replace (dot) with '.'. **DISCLAIMER: **I do not own P3P or 'Legend of Mermaid'.)

"Wow, you're so good at singing Minako-chan" Fuuka praised.

I smiled sheepishly.

"She beat me in every category..." Chie mumbled silently.

"Sing another! Encore!" Teddie cheered.

Everyone except Shinji was asking me to sing an encore.

"Aww c'mon guys, do I have to sing another one? I told you that I was only going to sing one!" I sighed.

"Don't be like that! You have a wonderful voice Minako-sempai!" Rise praised.

"Fine...I'll sign another one...but Rise-chan...you're going to sing with me!" I demanded. "You're an idol right? Plus we have a similar voice! We should sing a duet!"

"Sure!" Rise got onto the 'stage' beside me. "Do you know the song 'Ever Blue'?"

"Of course!" I searched through the songs and selected 'Ever Blue'. "Okay Yukari, whenever is fine!"

"Are you ready?" Yukari asked, ready to push **Start**.

"Of course! Let's sing!" we said in unison.

"Whoa...you guys really do have similar voices..." Kanji looked amazed.

Yukari pushed go, the music started to play and we began to sing our duet.

_**Oto tatezu ni iro kaeteku  
BEBII BURUU no sora wo mitsumetetara  
Tooi kioku yomigaeru**_

Nee nanatsu no umi no mukou  
Hora dareka ga naiteiru ki ga shite  
Mune ga "KYUN" to setsunaku naru yo

Watashi wo tasukete...  
Nanika ga shiraseru destiny  
Hoshi no michibiki wo mune ni dakishimete

Sore wa EBAA BURUU kagayaku daisuki na ano umi yo  
Mirai wo mamoru chikara wo ima atsumete  
Aisubeki hito ga ite aisubeki basho ga aru  
Kirameku aosa PYUA na kimochi no mama de mamoru tame ni

Kata narabete niji wo miteta  
Moshi kotoba wo umaku tsutaetetara  
Ima mo soba ni ita no ka na

Nee koi shite yume miru tabi  
Hora... jibun wo suki ni naru ki ga shite  
Sukoshizutsu otona ni natteku

Kaeritai nante...  
Dare ni mo iwanai keredo  
Kokoro ni wa MERODII itsumo nagareteru

Sore wa EBAA FURENDO ichiban taisetsu na mono dakara  
Donna ni tsurai toki mo mamoritsudzukeru  
Daisuki na hito ga ite daisuki na basho ga aru  
Fushigi na aosa sore wa tengoku yori mo kirei na umi

Sore wa EBAA BURUU kagayaku daisuki na ano umi yo  
Mirai wo mamoru chikara wo ima atsumete  
Kibou ni nare

Sore wa EBAA FURENDO ichiban taisetsu na mono dakara  
Donna ni tsurai toki mo mamoritsudzukeru  
Kirei na umi

(English Version)

_With a sound, the colors were changing.  
And if you gazed deeply at the blue sky,  
you could bring your distant memories back to you.  
You know, beyond the seven seas  
I just have this feeling someone is crying  
With their heart squealing in pain.  
Please save me...  
Something, anything has to notify me of my destiny.  
I embrace the guidance of the stars in my chest._

It shines forever with blue, like my beloved sea.  
To protect the future, now I gather power  
for the people and places I should be loving.  
Glittering azure, I want to protect these pure feelings the way they are now.  
With both of my shoulders lined up, I watched the rainbow.  
If I could possibly pass to you my feelings well,  
Then now would the place, with you by my side, I guess.

You know, together when falling in love and dreaming  
You feel as if you begin to like yourself... right?  
And you slowly start becoming an adult.  
To want to go home...  
I never say it to anyone, but  
That melody always flows within my heart.  
Every friend should be the best, because they're such precious people.  
No matter how difficult times may be at times, continue to protect them.  
Because you have people and places you love.  
It's a mysterious azure... the beautiful sea is more beautiful than Heaven.

It shines forever with blue, like my beloved sea.  
To protect the future, now I gather power  
so my hopes will be granted.  
Every friend should be the best, because they're such precious people.  
No matter how difficult times may be at times, continue to protect them.  
What a beautiful sea.

(**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **I chose 'Ever Blue' Because it went well with 'Legend of Mermaid', 'Ever Blue'is also from the anime Mermaid Melody. To listen, go to www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=VzmQZn7S4Yg ...replace (dot) with '.'. **DISCLAIMER: **I do not own 'Ever Blue')

Everyone cheered and clapped. Rise and I bowed.

"That was fun Minako-sempai!" Rise smiled.

"It sure was." I smiled back.

"Okay everyone, it's getting late so we should call it a night!" Mitsuru announced.

**The Next Morning on the beach...**

"Where is everyone?" Yosuke asked.

"I heard that they're all going to go see the Jyomon Cedar Tree..." Shinji replied.

"WHAT? Didn't they say that the last time we came here?" Junpei complained.

"Yea, but it was all interrupted last time because of Aigis." Akihiko stated.

"Aww man not again!" Junpei slumped.

"Why don't we just relax on the beach today then?" Ken said. "We could go fishing..."

"Then let's get some equipment from the mansion." Shinji said as he leads them back to the vacation home.

**Meanwhile on the other side of the beach...**

"Ahh...it's really nice to just walk around on the beach." I smiled.

"S-Shouldn't we have gone with the others Minako-san?" Naoto stuttered.

"Nah...I've already seen the tree." I said. "Plus Akihiko disappeared this morning so I couldn't spend time with him."

"I couldn't find Sempai this morning either..." Naoto looked down.

"Maybe he's hanging out with Akihiko then." I sighed.

"Hey baby, wanna hang with us?" a man appeared out of nowhere along with his 4 friends.

"Hey, her friend is a fine chick too!" the man's 1st friend snickered.

"Piss off!" I glared at him.

"Leave us alone!" Naoto demanded.

They grabbed our arms and pulled us closer to them.

"Hey hey, that's not nice...we just want to show you a good time babe." The 3rd man chuckled.

"If you don't wanna get hurt you'd better hang with us huh?" the 4th man threatened.

"Don't bother screaming either because there isn't one guy on this beach who's tougher than we are!" the 5th man warned.

"Ngh..." my arm was hurting from this guy's grip.

Naoto and I struggled to get free but it was not use, we were surrounded.

In the distance, Shinji, Akihiko, and Seta were coming in their direction to get the fishing equipment, but then stopped in their tracks when they saw us.

"What the hell?" Shinji glared.

"What a sec...That's Minako and Naoto-san!" Akihiko pointed out.

"They're being surrounded by guys, and I think they're hurting them..." Seta said.

Akihiko and Seta looked at each other, both of them had the '**Let's kill them for hurting our girlfriends**' look on their faces.

They stormed over to the girls.

"I think I'll just sit back and enjoy the show..." Shinji sat down on the sand. "Now...where can I get some popcorn?"

"**GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY GIRLFRIEND!**" They both said.

"Who the hell are you guys?" the leader of the group asked. "Go awa-..."

Before he knew it, Akihiko punched him right in the face.

_Oh man he's gunna feel that in the morning...maybe for the next week..._

Seta punched the man who grabbed Naoto and kneed him right in the stomach.

"S-Sempai..." Naoto was close to tears. One tear managed to slip out of her eye.

"**YOU MADE MY GIRLFRIEND CRY...I'M GUNNA KILL YOU!**" Seta glared at all of them with severe intensity just as Akihiko did.

After Akihiko and Seta were done with the 5 men, they were nothing but a bunch of human blob thingys on the sand.

_I would say 'I told you so' but...in their state...they wouldn't be able to hear me..._

Seta hugged Naoto and Akihiko hugged me.

"Are you okay?" Seta asked.

"Y-Yes I'm fine sempai." Naoto said.

"Minako...are you alright?" Akihiko asked.

"I'm fine." I replied.

Naoto and I looked at each other and nodded. We gave our boyfriends a kiss on the cheek.

"That's a thank you." I said simply.

"Well, since you guys are here...we're going to go fishing, want to come?" Akihiko asked. "C'mon Shinji! Let's go!"

"Hmph..." Shinji huffed as he made way to get the equipment.

After we got the equipment we headed to the fishing spot where Yosuke, Ryoji, Teddie, Kanji, and Junpei were waiting.

"Okay then, how about a fishing contest?" I asked. "Girls against boys."

"Fine with us but there are only 2 girls here, that won't be fair." Shinji stated.

"Junpei-san, Teddie, Kanji, Ryoji-san, and I will be the judges then." Yosuke suggested.

"That means it's Sanada-san, Aragaki-san, and I against Minako-san and Naoto." Seta pointed out. "The rules will be who ever catches the most fish will win."

"Fine with us." I said. "Loser treats the winner to Hagekure for a week."

"B-But I don't know how to fish Minako-san." Naoto looked down.

"Don't worry, I'll do all the fishing, you can count the fish for me to save time." I said. "I'll take that harpoon."

Akihiko tossed me the harpoon; we took our places ready to get started.

"GO!" Yosuke yelled.

I looked into the water; with my good sensory skills I was able to detect some fish. I threw the harpoon straight into the water then dived right after it.

***SPLASH***

I surfaced and headed for Naoto, I caught 4 fish in one go.

"The Hell? Is she some sort of fishing monster?" Shinji was impressed.

"Heh, you're never going to beat me!" I taunted.

I sensed some more fish then threw my harpoon once again. I jumped into the water to retrieve my catch. The process repeated over and over.

"Crap! We're losing! And it's practically 3 vs 1!" Seta panicked.

"Tch..." Shinji grimaced.

"Dang..." Akihiko widened his eyes as I repeatedly came out of the water with fish.

A few moments later, the rest of the group found us after seeing the cedar tree.

"What are you guys doing?" Yukari asked.

"We're having a fishing contest, and Mina-tan is beating the guys by a mile! Hahahaha!" Junpei laughed.

"I'm impressed Arisato, I didn't know you could fish." Mitsuru stated.

"Yea, my dad taught me how to harpoon when I was little. I do it from time to time for fun." I replied.

"Might as well call the contest to an end guys, Minako-san won." Yosuke pointed to the huge mound of fish right beside Naoto.

"We caught 37 fish Minako-san, though 14 of them are inedible." Naoto threw the inedible ones back into the ocean.

"Won't don't we fry them up? It'll make for a good lunch don't you think?" I asked. "Oh, and you guys owe Naoto and I hagekure for a week."

"Shit..." Shinji grimaced at the thought of treating me to hagekure, knowing how much I ate.

"Yes, we should find some firewood, I'll gut the fish." I said. "Yukiko-chan can start a fire with Agidyne."

We had a great fish fry and a great vacation. Before we knew it the vacation was over and it was time to go back home. We knew that after we go back, we had to locate hell's labyrinth and find the 9 crystal shards.


	9. Chapter 9 Hell's Labyrinth and Aphrodite

Apparently, the college was having a culture festival right after the 3 day break.

"Why is there a culture festival so early in the year?" Naoto asked.

"Apparently we're going to be hosting a lot of different events and trips this year because some rich couple donated a heck load of money to the school. Now they even connected Shinji's culinary school with our college, something about letting the students cook for other students being a great way to learn..." I explained.

"Shit..." Shinji cursed.

"Oh great, thanks to this we might be too tired to go to hell's labyrinth..." I sighed.

"What's our class doing anyway?" Yukari asked.

"I don't know actually." I said. "They said that they were preparing for it during the break, that's the whole reason we even got the 3 day vacation."

"I'll search the college site...let's see here...our class is doing..." Fuuka searched. "We're holding the 'Couple's obstacle course'. Only couples from the school can participate and the reward is meal tickets to Hagekure...after that our class isn't really holding up anymore events so we can relax for a few days."

"I'm so entering!" I turned to the page and signed myself up along with Shinji.

"What the hell? Why am I participating with you?" Shinji asked.

"Because I want those meal tickets and Akihiko isn't a student at the college, so I can't participate with him!" I explained. "So it's obvious that you'd be the next choice!"

"Shit...why does it have to be me?" Shinji cursed.

"Don't worry about it! It'll be fine." I patted Shinji on the back. "Oh since this race is a onetime thing, we won't be too tired after all! Tonight we're going to find hell's labyrinth."

**~THE DARK HOUR~**

"Okay Rise-chan and Fuuka, fuse with your personas and try to find an ominous aura around town." I said.

"Juno!" Fuuka summoned.

"Kanzeon!" Rise called.

"Let's fuse!" They both said.

"Wow, I can see the whole town easily when I fuse!" Rise said.

"Me too! Wait! I sense it! I sense an ominous aura near the shrine by the graveyard!" Fuuka informed.

"Wow, the perfect place for a gateway to hell to be..." Ryoji said.

"Let's get going!" I commanded.

We all ran towards the shrine, then we saw a big red door right beside it with some sort of purple-black smoke oozing out of it.

"Whoa..." Yosuke looked at the door.

"I feel chills down my spine by just looking at it." Yukari said.

"Let's not waste time..." Mitsuru said as she headed for the door.

We opened the door, it looks somewhat like the Abyss of time except it was black and grey everywhere. The doors were a bloody red.

"It sure is creepy in here..." Yukiko said.

"Careful! The doors seem to have some sort of magic on them, only one of the doors seems accessible at the moment. I'm sure if we collect a shard from the first door, another barrier will lift." Fuuka said.

"The door third to the left seems accessible..." Rise stated.

"Okay lets head on in then." I led the group towards the third door. We opened it to see an empty room with a door on the other side.

Then out of nowhere, a guardian appeared.

"**I am Aphrodite, I am the goddess of love, you have to defeat me in order to proceed though the door behind me. Let us see how strong your bonds are when I charm your leader.**"

Aphrodite disappeared after that.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Just then I felt a voice in my head, telling me to attack my friends. My mind was a blur, I had not control of my body and I didn't know what I was doing. I collapsed on the ground.

Seta came over to me and helped me up as I awoke.

I punched in right in the face and sent him flying.

"What the hell?" Yosuke ran over to Seta and glared at me. "What was that for?"

"_HAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm FREE at LAST!"_

"What is wrong with you Minako?" Yukari yelled.

"_Heh Heh Heh, who is the Minako you're referring to? The good one? Or the bad one?"_

"What?" Mitsuru said.

"_The Minako you know is no longer here, only her other self! And since I don't like you, I'm GOING TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ALL OF YOU! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"_

"She's crazy!" Chie shouted.

"No...She's been charmed, by that guardian no less." Naoto concluded.

"_Oh? There's a smart one among this group of filth? I won't be you up half as bad as the others then, hahahahaha. Let's do this."_

"Fuuka and Kujikawa, scan her! I have a feeling this is going to be a rough battle." Mitsuru said.

Everyone fused with their personas and go ready for battle.

"_I wanna have fun with you guys so I won't use my ultimate form just yet...ready for this? Siegfried!"_

I fused with Siegfried and powered up my arms and legs with power charge. I darted for Mitsuru first. I punched her in the face and elbowed her into the wall.

"Ugh..." Mitsuru was stammering to stand back up.

"Holy shit, I didn't even see her! She was like a blur!" Yosuke got ready for battle.

"_You all are no match against me!"_

"She's weak against darkness! Oh wait! She has the Skill repel dark on her! She doesn't have any weaknesses anymore!" Rise shouted.

"_Ohhhh, I sense 2 scanner types in this room, they'll get in my way!"_

I darted for both Fuuka and Rise, but Ken got in the way. I kicked him to the wall as if he was nothing, then I rammed both scanners out of the way, rendering them unconscious.

"Snap out of it Minako!" Akihiko yelled.

"_What if I don't wanna?"_

"Then I'll force you to!" Shinji darted for me. I easily dodged his attack and kneed him on the stomach and punched his face.

"Damn..." Shinji cursed.

"Akihiko-san! Shinjiro-san! Find a way to snap her out of it! We'll distract her for now!" Naoto commanded.

Naoto darted for me, faster than the others, she kicked me in the stomach.

"Way to go Naoto!" Chie cheered. "I'll help too!"

Chie power charged and hit me in the face with a god's hand.

"Nice!" Yukiko praised, "That should keep her down!"

"Let's hope so..." Yukari said.

I got up easily afterwards.

"What? That didn't take her out?" Teddie was shocked.

"Crap!" Kanji cursed.

"_You guys are a pain in the ass! THAT HURT! I'm going to triple the pain of what you did to me right back to you!"_

I fused with both Lucifer and Helel at the same time for double fusion. I looked like an angel-devil crossbreed. One side of me had Angel wings and the other side had Devil wings.

"Oh shit! I'm not even a scanner type and I sense that she's going to give us a world of hurt! BRACE YOURSELVES!" Seta shouted.

Everyone took a guard position, readying themselves for the attack yet to come.

"_This is it! MIND CHARGE!"_

"This is going to do a shit load on me..." Shinji grimaced.

"_**MORNING STAR!**__"_

The almighty attack did severe damage to everyone, all of them in their own bloody pool. Then I looked at Akihiko...he was lying there...half dead...

"_HAHAHAHA! SEE HOW POWERFUL I AM? I'm going to ki.. ARRRRRGGHHH! KYAAAAA!."_

"Shit...what's happening to her?" Shinji tried to pull himself up.

_KEEP AWAY FROM THEM!_

"_EEEYAARGHH! MY HEAD!"_

_DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!_

"_KEEP OUT OF THIS YOU BITCH! UGHH..."_

_STOP IT! __**JUST STOP IT!**_

I collapsed once more, and then I regained my consciousness. I don't remember what I did exactly did, but once I saw all of my friends in pools of blood except me, I put the pieces together.

"N-No...I-I didn't...I-I didn't mean too..." I cried.

I ran over to Akihiko, who was still unconscious and mortally wounded.

"Akihiko...? W-Wake up..." I sobbed. "E-Everyone? WAKE UP!"

No one answered, Shinji lost his consciousness again. I was alone and surrounded by friends who were beaten to the point that they could die if they didn't get some help...

_I have to heal them! I don't have a lot of SP left...I have no choice! Even if it costs my life I have to save them!_

"Mind Charge!" I called. "SALVATION!"

Everyone was basked in a warm glow, healing all of their wounds, then slowly regained consciousness.

"Ngh...huh? Minako?" Akihiko looked at himself, all his wounds completely healed. "My wounds..."

"That's great...I was able to heal all of you...thank goodness..." I fainted.

"Minako-san? Are you okay?" Seta walked over to me.

Shinji also came to check on me too.

"S-SHIT! SHE'S NOT BREATHING!" Shinji yelled.

"S-She must've used her life force to make up for the lack of SP!" Mitsuru stuttered.

Akihiko placed his head onto, my chest, listening for a heartbeat.

"Her heart is still beating!" Akihiko stated. "We have to do something!"

"We've got to heal her! Everyone who has a healing type spell...please use it on her! It might be enough to bring her back!" Mitsuru commanded.

Everyone nodded.

"Healing wave!"

"Diarahan!"

"Salvation!"

Everyone in their fused forms desperately tried to heal me. Slowly, I started to breathe again.

"Thank god! She's breathing again!" Akihiko said.

I slowly regained consciousness. I opened my eyes, only to see everyone surrounding me giving a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! You were all hurt! I didn't know what to do...I was so scared that I might've killed you!" I cried.

Akihiko hugged me.

"It's okay Minako, we all know that you were under a charm spell, we all know that you didn't know what you were doing. We don't blame you..." Akihiko said.

"B-But it's still all my fault that you were all hurt! I'll make it up to you one day..." I sobbed.

"**Congratulations, you pass my test. You may proceed through the doors.**"

"I see; the test was to see if our bonds were strong enough to snap Minako-san out of her trance..." Naoto deducted.

"A-Anyways, we should call it a day don't you think? Fighting and being beaten up by Minako-san really took it outta me..." Chie sighed.

"I agree... we should fully recover before we enter through the doors." Mitsuru said.

We all left the labyrinth and all of us went back home.

"Hey Shinji, you better be ready for that obstacle course tomorrow!" I said cheerfully.

"Obstacle course?" Akihiko asked.

"The Couple's obstacle course being held at our college culture festival, since only students are allowed to participate, I asked Shinji to compete with me." I explained. "The reward is some free meal tickets for Hagekure."

"You didn't ASK me, you MADE me." Shinji stated.

"But Shinji doesn't even go to your school." Akihiko said.

"He does now, some rich couple donated money to the school, and for some reason the director of the culinary school thought it would be a great idea for our college and their school to merge." I explained. "He said something about having his students cooking for other students will be a great way to learn."

"Well then, good luck to both of you, Shinji will certainly help get rid of persistence admirers for Minako, and vise versa." Akihiko said cheerfully.

"Tch...what a pain..." Shinji grimaced.

**The next day at the culture festival...**

"Wow! Look at all this!" Chie looked at every stall and even that was happening.

"I've brought a camera for Minako's and Shinjiro's event!" Fuuka said.

"C'mon Shinji! We've got to get to the obstacle race before it starts!" I dragged him to the event.

"Hey! Wait up for us Minako!" Yukari ran after us.

"Why didn't you guys participate?" Yukiko asked.

"Naoto and I didn't want to get involved with this sort of competition, especially not after last night. Minako-san is a beast..." Seta sighed.

"Anyways, we should hurry! I don't wanna miss this!" Yosuke ran, trying to catch up to Yukari and Fuuka.

The whole group arrived just in time to witness the beginning of the event.

"WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! TODAY WE ARE HOSTING THE COUPLE'S OBSTACLE COURSE!" the host announced. "COUPLES...ARE YOU READY?"

The crowd cheered.

"Ready Shinji?" I asked.

"Tch...ready as I'll ever be." Shinji replied.


	10. Chapter 10 Culture Festival

"OKAY COUPLES! THE FIRST TASK IS THE CARRY RACE!" the announcer said.

"The the hell is the carry race?" I asked.

"YOU MUST PICK A STYLE OF CARRY OUT OF THE BOXES IN FRONT OF YOU! THEN YOU MUST RACE WITH THAT CARRY UNTIL YOU REACH THE NEXT TASK!" the announcer explained. "NOW PLEASE PICK YOUR CARRY!"

I reached into the box and pulled out a piece of paper. The paper said 'Princess carry'.

"Fuck..." Shinji complained.

Shinji scooped me off my feet and started to run.

_This is a lot better than the reverse princess carrying, I feel sorry for that other couple there..._

Shinji was obviously faster than the other contestants, plus a lot of resistance was taken off when I forced him out of his pea coat and left it with Fuuka.

"There's the next task! Let's hurry!" I said.

"I'm going I'm going!" Shinji complained.

We soon reached the second task. The sign said:

**THE BORROWING RACE**

"Crap!" I said. "Shinji, pull a piece of paper out of that box."

He put his hand into the box and grabbed the first paper he touched. We read it and couldn't believe our eyes.

"Are we seriously going to have to borrow this?" Shinji asked.

"I guess so..." I shrugged.

"EVERYONE CAN PICK OUT OF THE LARGER BOX, YOU MAY USE WHATEVER YOU TAKE TO HELP YOU 'BORROW' YOUR ITEM!" the announcer said.

I put my hand in the larger box and pulled something out, it was duct tape.

"Sick...this is going to work great!" I said. "Let's go!"

"Tch..." Shinji cursed.

We ran around the crowd and tried to find our item to 'Borrow', then we saw Seta and Naoto nearby, observing our race. We headed over to them, we both nodded to each other before I put duct tape on Seta's mouth and Shinji punched him in the stomach. We both thought the same thing... '**KIDNAP**'. Shinji threw Seta over his shoulder and started to run. I grabbed Naoto and carried her over my shoulder just like Seta with Shinji, she was struggling to get free but didn't prevail.

"Go go go go go!" I ran after Shinji.

We brought the couple to the judges. They approved after asking them the question: "Are you dating?". They both nodded and we were allowed to proceed to the next task. Before we left, the piece of paper slipped out of my pocket, it read:

**BORROW: A COUPLE WHO ISN'T PARTICIPATING IN THE RACE**

We ran as fast as we could to the next round. The sign read:

**COSPLAY RACE**

"There is no way in hell that you're going to get me to cosplay!" Shinji retorted.

"You don't have a choice!" I forcefully dragged him to the change room, where an attendant gave us a Box with our costumes in it; the costumes were chosen by random. We entered the change room only to find out that we had to share one.

"Why the hell do we have to share one?" Shinji shouted.

"Because they think we're a couple!" I replied. "Now just put that aside for now and get changing!"

I changed into mine first, then I had to forcefully put Shinji in his, no matter how much he didn't want to.

We ran out of our change rooms to proceed to the next task, lucky our cosplay costumes weren't hard to move in. We ended having to cosplay as a maid and butler.

_I guess this is better than the couple over there that had to cosplay as a monkey and his banana..._

We got to the next obstacle; apparently we had to fight a boxing club member as the next task.

"Hahahaha! You're never going to get past me Butler boy!" The boxer said.

"What did you call me?" Shinji glared.

_Oh shit, that boxer made the mistake of his life. He ANGERED SHINJI!_

"BUTLER BOY! I bet you're weak! When I'm through with you I'll take your cute little girlfriend there for myself!" the boxer boasted.

_This guy is just digging his own grave...may you rest in peace._

"Okay that's it; I'm going to **BEAT** the shit out of you!" Shinji loosened his tie. "Are you ready for this?"

"Come and get me! You and your weakling girlfriend can't do shit to me!" the boxer taunted.

_Weak? DID HE JUST CALL ME WEAK? SCREW YOU! DIE IN HELL!_

Shinji darted for the boxer and punched him in the face and kneed him in the stomach.

I kicked the guy onto the ground, then we both literally ran over him trying to get to the next obstacle.

The proceeded to the next task, we had to use a vine to get across the man-made ditch. The problem was that there was only one vine per couple.

"You've got to be fucking shitting me, how the hell are we both going to get across this together?" Shinji asked.

"Like this!" I grabbed Shinji's left arm and jumped towards the vine.

I grabbed onto the vine and held on for dear life. As soon as the vine swung close enough to the other side, I threw Shinji.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Shinji shouted as he flew over to the other side.

I let the vine swing backwards then towards Shinji again.

"Get ready to catch me Shinji!" I commanded.

"WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING DO-..." Shinji exclaimed as he got back up on his feet.

Too late, I jumped off the vine and towards Shinji. Thankfully, he caught me in a princess carry. He let me down and started to reprehend me, but I didn't care.

"We can talk about this later! LET'S GO!" I shouted as I ran off to the next task with Shinji running after me.

The next obstacle was to go through a dark hallway filled with people trying to scare you, if you screamed, you lose.

We entered the hallway, it was a bit dark, but thanks to the dark hour we both had great night vision. A guy popped out of nowhere and attempted to scare us. Shinji just gave the '**GO AWAY YOU ASSHOLE**' glare. The glare was so terrifying that the guy who was actually supposed to do the scaring got scared and ran out of the hallway screaming like he just saw a zombie.

The rest of the guys who were supposed to scare us didn't dare come out, knowing that Shinji would probably kill them if they did.

"Good job Shinji!" I praised as we finished the obstacle.

We ran towards the last task. It was an oiled slope. The task was to climb to slope to get to the finish line. We were each given some rope.

"Tch...what a waste of oil!" Shinji was pissed.

"We can worry about that afterwards! We have to get to the top of this thing." I said.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Shinji asked.

I thought about it for a moment.

"Shinji! Cup your hands together and get ready to throw me to the top!" I commanded.

"W-What? OH! I get it." Shinji smirked.

He did what he was told; I ran towards him and stepped onto his hands. He threw me upwards towards the top and I landed perfectly. I threw the rope down to him. I secretly power charged my arms so I was able to pull Shinji towards the top effortlessly.

"You cheater." Shinji said.

"I have **NO IDEA** of what you're talking about..." I grinned. "There isn't a rule that states I can't use my **persona's power**."

"Heh..." Shinji chuckled.

We ran past the finish line and won first place.

"CONGRATULATIONS! YOU WIN 14 MEAL TICKETS TO HAGEKURE!" the announcer awarded. "NOW IT'S CUSTOMARY FOR THE WINNING COUPLE KISS EACH OTHER!"

"**WHAT?**" we both yelled.

"I-I can't do tha-..." Shinji stuttered.

"OH YES YOU CAN!" I said.

I put my hand over his mouth and kissed him indirectly, gladly nobody saw what I did. I pulled away afterwards and the crowd was cheering. The announcer presented Shinji and I with the meal tickets and we left. We went over to Fuuka and Yukari who was cheering in the crowd.

"You guys did it!" Yukari cheered.

"Did you really kiss Shinjiro-san though? Akihiko isn't going to like it..." Fuuka said.

"Nah, I covered his mouth with my hands. So it wasn't a real kiss." I explained.

"I can't believe you made me go through all that..." Shinji sighed.

"Oh well, want to go check out the other events?" I asked.

"Sure, let's go." Yosuke said.

We met up with Akihiko, Mitsuru, Junpei, Ken, Teddie, and Ryoji nearby an event. Apparently they came to see the culture festival since they finished work early. Chidori couldn't come because she had to work at the art gallery.

We all headed over to an odd event, so we decided to check it out since there weren't any other good events going on.

**THE BACHELOR AND BACHELORETTE DATING GAME**

The sign read. As we were heading over to see the poor suckers who got pulled into this dumb event. A guy popped out of nowhere and saw us.

"Hey! You guys would make a great addition to our game, you've got to participate!" the man said.

"OH HELL NO!" Shinji shouted.

"C'mon! No need to be shy!" the man dragged all of us backstage for the contest.

The announcer introduced all of us onto the stage, the boys and girls were separated by a wall.

There were constant 'Kyaas' for the boys and cheering for the girls. I could have sworn I heard one of the guys yell 'I got yo number baby!' to us.

**We're going to kill that guy!**

We all glared at the man who brought this tragedy upon us, he felt some sort of sizzling and burning sensation.

And for some reason, Teddie was on our side, dressed like a girl. He sorta looked like Alice in wonderland.

"Umm...Teddie? Why are you wearing that?" I asked.

"I dunno, these girls came up to me and thought I was cute enough to be a girl, so this is what happened in the end." Teddie replied.

"If it makes you feel better, I think Naoto-chan was pulled onto the guy's side..." Yukari said.

"OKAY LADIES AND GENTS! LET'S GET THIS GAME STARTED! I'LL EXPLAIN HOW THIS GAME WORKS! EACH CONTESTANT IS GIVEN A NUMBER, THEN WE'LL HAVE EACH SIDE ASK EACH OTHER A SERIES OF QUESTIONS! IN THE END OUR JUDGES WILL PAIR EACH SIDE OFF WITH THE OPPOSITE GENDER AND THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE TUNNEL OF LOVE!"

**THE TUNNEL OF WHAT?**

"Oh hell no! Get me out of here!" Seta tried to leave the stage, but a bunch of girls blocked his way and he was forced back into his seat.

The numbers were given to each of us.

Mitsuru and Shinji were #1

Kanji and I were #2

Yosuke and Teddie were #3

Seta and Chie were #4

Junpei and Yukiko were #5

Ken and Yukari were #6

Naoto and Fuuka were #7

Akihiko and Aigis were #8

And Ryoji and Koro managed to get away thanks to Rise; I guess she's used to stuff like this.

"How did we get into this...?" I sighed.

"I wish I knew..." Mitsuru said.

"OKAY! MALE CONESTANT #1! PLEASE WRITE YOUR QUESTION ON A PIECE OF PAPER BEFORE YOU! WE WILL READ OUT THE QUESTION THEN THE LADIES' SIDE WILL ANSWER HONESTLY!"

Shinji quickly wrote his and handed it to the announcer.

"OKAY! #1 ASKS... 'CAN I BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF THE ANNOUCER AFTER THIS?'...W-WAIT WHAT?"

"Go for it."

"Beat him up real nice..."

"Execute him."

"Affirmative, leave nothing behind."

"Leave no physical evidence..."

"That man needs to be disappeared."

"I don't mind."

"W-We shouldn't be too violent!"

Shinji started to crack his knuckles and glared at the announcer. Everyone on the stage already knew who it was and were telepathically cheering Shinji on.

"O-OKAY LADIES AND GENTS! I'LL JUST ASK THE QUESTIONS FROM NOW ON TO PREVENT ANY BEATINGS COMING MY WAY!" the announcer said. "WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE FOOD? MEN, YOU CAN GO FIRST."

"Beef bowl."

"Ramen."

"Piss off."

"Omelette fried rice."

"California rolls."

"Don't care."

"Takoyaki?"

"Fried pork?"

"SINCE THESE QUESTIONS ARE GOING NOWHERE, WE'RE JUST GOING TO PAIR TO OFF RIGHT NOW!"

**BUT YOU'RE THE ONE ASKING THEM!**

And so the pairings stand thus...

Mitsuru and Kanji

Akihiko and Teddie

Yosuke and Fuuka

Yukari and Ken

Naoto and Aigis

Shinji and Yukiko

Chie and Junpei

Seta and Me

"NOW PLEASE GET INTO THE CARTS AND ENETER THE TUNNEL OF LOVE! IF YOU COME BACK OUT ALIVE YOU WIN A PRIZE!"

**ALIVE HE SAID? **

**What exactly is IN that tunnel that's going to kill us?**

We all imagined the worse. We were all forced into the heart shaped carts and were locked in so we couldn't escape.

"SHIT! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Shinji shouted.

"Just kill me now..." Junpei sighed.

"Let's try to live through this guys..." I said.

"You've gotta to be shitting me! There's no way I can live through this dammit!" Kanji struggled to get free.

We ALL struggled to get free, but it was no use, the locks were strong. Soon the ride started and we entered.

It was worse than we than imagined. There were hearts everywhere, an annoying tune was playing, there were mushy love puppet skits playing for us every 30 seconds, and the worse thing was that the ride was at least 10 minutes long...

We were all thinking the same thing...

** Our life was a short one... **

When the ride was over, we were all half dead, dragging ourselves to the food court.

"Aww...c'mon guys...it wasn't that bad..." Fuuka tried to cheer the team up.

**DID SHE JUST SAY THAT IT WASN'T THAT BAD?**

"Ugh...I'm going to have nightmares for the next 5 years about this..." I companied.

"I really did die in there, the announcer wasn't kidding..." Akihiko slumped in his seat.

"I'm scarred for life..." Yosuke sulked.

"Ngh...please...let's not talk about it anymore..." Seta grimaced.

"**AGREED.**" We all said.

After that day in the culture festival, none of us were the same since. The ride horrified and terrified us, leaving a scar that would probably never heal... In the end none of us won since we all practically died inside the tunnel.

* * *

**Author's Note:** If you're wondering why 'P3P our combined powers' and 'Fusion and the orb of Life' are similar in many ways, it's because the author of 'P3P our combined powers' is my twin sister.


	11. Chapter 11 Minato and the Animal Taming

"*Gasp*...*Huff*...*Gasp*...*Pant*...crap...why do I keep having the same dream over and over again?" I grumbled. "That's twice now..."

**

* * *

Later that morning...**

"Hey Minako! Someone is here to see you!" Yukari called.

I walked downstairs to see what the commotion was about, only for Yukari to drag me over to the lunge entrance. That's when I saw him...

"Minako?" The blue haired boy asked.

"I-Is that really you Minato?" I asked.

"Yes...I'm finally home..." He smiled; he opened his arms wide as if he was expecting a hug.

"MINATOOO!" I flung myself into his arms, crying tears of joy.

"I missed you too Minako..." He hugged me back.

"Ummm...Minako? Who is this?" Yukari asked.

"Oh...this is my older brother, his name is Minato." I introduced. "He's been working overseas at this big corporation that has connections to the Kirijo group. He's only a year older than I am but he was a child genius! He was perfect at everything except for staying awake that is...plus he almost never shows any emotion what so ever."

"I can't help it...when you gotta sleep, you gotta sleep. And I'm too lazy to show any emotion most of the time!" Minato retorted. "Anyways, nice to meet you Yukari-san."

"O-Oh...nice to meet you too. You can just call me Yukari if you want." She said.

"Thank you for taking care of my sister Yukari." He bowed.

"O-Oh no! S-She's the one who's been taking care of me!" She bowed back.

Minato smiled.

"Hey Minako...does he...?" Yukari trailed off.

"Yes, I do have a persona if that's what you're wondering. I can summon multiple personas and I'm the Universe arcana just like my sister." Minato said. "I can also sense that you have a persona as well, a wind and healing type persona huh? Quite powerful too. Are you able to fuse with your persona?"

"H-How did you know about persona fusion onii-san?" I asked.

"I had a dream a few weeks ago about it...then not to long after that a strange voice told me to come and find you to join you and your friends on your quest." Minato explained.

"I see...well then...welcome aboard Onii-san!" I said. "I'll call up the others right now to introduce you to them."

I called everyone including Seta's gang, though it was a school day, the culture festival was still taking place so it wouldn't matter at all if we were late.

"Why did you call this meeting Arisato?" Mitsuru asked.

"To introduce you to a powerful new member to our team!" I replied.

"W-What? Another persona user?" Seta asked.

"Yes, like Seta and I, he is also capable to summoning multiple personas. He's already learnt to fuse with them too." I said. "You can come out now Onii-san!"

"O-Onii-san?" Everyone exclaimed.

"Hello, pleasure to meet you all. My name is Minato Arisato." He bowed. "I'm Minako's older brother."

"Minato...Minato...Where have I heard that before?" Mitsuru asked. "Oh wait! Now I remember, you were one my father's old associate's colleagues! I remember because my father told me once about how his business partner was boasting about how he had a child genius helping them out."

"That is correct." Minato stated.

"But I had no idea of the fact that you were a persona user as well..." Mitsuru looked dumbfounded.

"Your father knew, but decided to keep it on the down low." Minato answered. "I have no idea why he wanted to keep it a secret; he probably was going to tell you sooner or later."

"Yes...I'm sure my father must've had his reasons for keeping it a secret." Mitsuru smiled. "Anyways, welcome to SEES Arisato-kun."

"Oh, no need with the formalities, you may call me Minato, and you can call Minako by her first name as well." Minato smiled.

"Very well then." Mitsuru said. "I'll introduce the members myself."

"Go ahead sempai." I said.

"Ahem...Here is Yukari Takeba, Akihiko Sanada, Shinjiro Aragaki, Fuuka Yamagishi, Aigis, Ken Amada, Ryoji Mochizuki, and Koromaru." Mitsuru pointed to each of the members, either saying hello, giving a small wave, or just nodding. In Koro's case it was a bark.

"Pleased to meet you all." Minato smiled. "And who might you be?"

He looked at Seta and his gang.

"O-Oh, I'm sorry, we are also persona users. We are the Investigation Team. I'm Seta Souji and these are my team members: Yukiko Amagi, Chie Satonaka, Kanji Tatsumi, Yosuke Hanamura, Naoto Shirogane, Rise Kujikawa, and Teddie." Seta said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too." He bowed.

The Investigation Team bowed back.

"How come you didn't tell us that you had an older brother Mina-tan, and a child genius at that. How come you guys are so smart? Do you eat textbooks for breakfast or something?" Junpei asked.

"No Junpei, we don't eat textbooks, that'd be just stupid. And I never mentioned it because nobody asked." I explained. "Mitsuru knew because she looked at my files, but what she didn't know that he was working for one of her father's business partners. Not that I'd expect her to know though, he used an alias because he was underage."

"I see." Mitsuru said.

"What arcane are you Minato-san?" Seta asked.

"I am the universe arcane, so I am capable of doing a double fusion just like her. I'm just as capable of doing everything my sister can do other than to give birth or other things along those lines." Minato explained. "And may I ask all of you a question?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay then, is there anyone in this room who is dating my sister?" Minato glared.

"I am." Akihiko stood up.

"I see, well then you should already know but I'll tell you anyway. If you hurt her, I'll do something to make you regret it." Minato smiled innocently.

"L-Like what...?" Akihiko asked.

"Now, if I told you...you'd have nightmares for weeks on end about it. Hahahahaha." Minato chuckled.

"*Gulp*...Yes sir! I'll do my best to protect her!" Akihiko stated proudly.

"Good. Now then, on the way here, I heard that there was a culture festival at your college correct?" Minato asked.

"Yea! We should go!" I pulled on Minato's arm and dragged him outside.

"I'm so glad that I'm a girl right now..." Chie said. "I'd rather not face a punishment from him.."

"He's soo HOT!" Rise screamed. "Do you think he's single?"

"Not that he'd have any interest in girls 5 years younger than he is." Yosuke smirked.

"Ngh...The horrors of the culture festival..." Junpei complained.

"Let's go before we lose them!" Yukari said running after Minato and I. "Wait up Minako!"

**

* * *

At the culture festival day 2...**

"Wow, this place looks even livelier than before..." I peered over the crowd.

"Hey look an improvement, that dumb contest we participated in yesterday is gone!" Junpei said.

"Good." Akihiko sighed.

"Check it out! There's a wild animal taming contest! Wanna go see it?" I asked.

"Sure, as long as we're not doing some dumb dating game again I really don't care." Yukari said.

We rushed through the crowd to see the event. Apparently we could sign up in teams of 2 to try to tame a wild animal.

"Want to give it a shot?" I asked.

"Sounds fun, I'm in!" Junpei said.

"Sure why not?" Yukari said.

"I'm game." Seta said.

"If my partner is competing then so am I." Yosuke stated.

"I guess I could try it, what about you Shinji?" Akihiko asked.

"Better than nothing I guess..." Shinji sighed.

"I'm going if my sister is." Minato said.

"I'll compete as well." Mitsuru said.

"Sure, what the heck I'm down." Kanji said.

"Sounds fun, I'll try." Ken said.

"I will try as well." Aigis stated.

"Well... I don't think this kind of contest suites me; I'll just watch and cheer you guys on." Fuuka said.

"Me too, I'm not beary good with animals..." Teddie pouted.

"Yukiko, Naoto-kun, Rise, and I are going to sit this one out as well." Chie stated.

"Koro and I as well." Ryoji said.

"Okay then, how are we going to decide teams?" I asked.

"We can pick names out of a hat. I've got a notebook in my purse that we can get the paper from." Yukiko said.

Yukari pulled off Junpei's hat.

"Hey!" Junpei tried to get his hat back but Yukari stepped on his foot.

"I've got the hat we can pick out of" Yukari said. "put the names in here Yukiko-chan."

Yukiko put the names into the hat and shuffled them around a bit.

"If you pick your own name, or someone who already has a partner, just draw again." Yukiko said.

I went first.

"Cool! I'm teamed up with Onii-san!" I hugged Minato.

"I'll go next." Junpei pulled a slip of paper out of the hat. "Hey...I got Yuka-tan!"

"Ugh...I'm stuck with Stupei, I can see where this is going to go very nicely..." Yukari sighed.

"My turn." Akihiko pulled. "I've got Kanji-kun."

"Cool, this is going to be fun!" Kanji punched his hand.

"I'll go next." Yosuke pulled out a piece of paper. "I've got my old pal Seta as my partner!"

"Great." Seta said.

"Hmmm..." Aigis hummed as she picked a paper out of the hat. "I have Ken as my partner."

"That leaves Aragaki and I then." Mitsuru stated.

We signed ourselves up. We had to pick from a draw to see which animal we had to tame.

"We got an animal named Dozer." I said to Minato.

"Hmm, I wonder what animal that could be..." Minato pondered.

"We got Mimi and Momo." Yukari said.

"We got Hogger and Mudflap..." Kanji said.

"What kinda names are those?" Akihiko said.

"We have...Fang and Duke." Mitsuru said.

"Hey Seta, we got Sunny and Rootie." Yosuke said.

"We have Mitzi and Punchy..." Ken said.

We handed our cards to the animal tamer so he could get ready the animals. A worker showed us to the 'Arenas' where we're supposed to tame the animal.

"WELCOME LADIES AND GENTLEMAN TO THE ANIMAL TAMING CONTEST!" The announcer said.

The crowd cheered.

"I'LL EXPLAIN THE RULES OF THIS GAME! EACH PAIR IS ASSIGNED A WILD ANIMAL BY RANDOM FROM THE DRAW! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE YOUR ANIMAL SUBMIT OR OBEY YOU! IF YOUR ANIMAL IS ABOUT TO KILL YOU, OUR PROFESSIONAL ANIMAL TRAINERS WILL BLOW THEIR WHISTLE TO MAKE THE ANIMAL HALT THEIR RAMPAGE! EACH PAIR HAS A 10 MINUTE TIME LIMIT!" the announcer explained.

"Wait a second...did he say if our animal is about to **KILL** us?" Junpei asked.

"What kind of animals do they have in mind?" Yosuke complained.

We waited patiently in our arenas, waiting the for animals to come out of their gates.

**

* * *

MINAKO'S AND MINATO'S ARENA**

*BRRR* *BRRR*

"I think we're about to find out who Dozer is..." Minato said.

A bull came out of their gates, getting ready to charge at us.

"Crap, out of all the things we could have gotten, we had to get the most dangerous one didn't we?" I complained.

The bull charged at us at full speed, but since we were used to being attacked like this, we dodged.

"Onii-san! I have a plan! Distract Dozer while I tame him!" I commanded.

"Got it!" Minato smirked. "HEY DUMBASS DOZER! COME AND GET ME YOU GREAT UGLY BRUTE!"

Dozer became red in the face with anger as it chased Minato. Just when the bull got close to the fence, I jumped on top of it then started to ride it rodeo style.

"YEEEEE HAAA!" I grabbed the reins and pulled upwards, signalling Dozer to stop.

Dozer eventually calmed down and now was at ease with me riding on his back. Minato apologised to Dozer for insulting him and petted his nose.

**

* * *

YUKARI'S AND JUNPEI'S ARENA**

"OWW! HEEELLPP! GET THESE GUYS OF ME!" Junpei ran around the arena trying to get the twin racoons to stop biting his butt.

"Somehow, I knew that this was gunna happen...this is your own fault Stupei, if you didn't anger them so much by taunting them so much, you wouldn't be in this mess." Yukari stated as she watched Junpei run in circles around her.

**

* * *

AKIHIKO'S AND KANJI'S ARENA**

"Kanji-kun! You take Mudflap and I'll get Hogger!" Akihiko commanded.

"Alright Sanada-sempai!" Kanji replied as he aimed for the black boar and Akihiko for the white one.

They both body slammed their boars and wrestled them into the ground. They both put them into a sleeper's hold until the angry boars calmed down. When they did, Akihiko and Kanji let go of them and started to pet them.

**

* * *

SETA'S AND YOSUKE'S ARENA**

"Dammit! Why won't these guys stay still?" Yosuke shouted.

"How the hell should I know? Just hurry up and catch Sunny! We're running out of time!" Seta yelled back.

"That's easy for you to say!" Yosuke chased the hen all over the arena, sometimes nearly crashing into Seta who was chasing a rooster.

**

* * *

AIGIS' AND KEN'S ARENA**

"It's a good thing that you're able to communicate with animals Aigis." Ken praised.

"Affirmative, these kitties are quite a handful. They seemed to have calmed down after I've captured them." Aigis said as she petted the cats.

**

* * *

MITSURU'S AND SHINJI'S ARENA**

The dogs charged at Mitsuru and Shinji, barking like mad. They were returned with Mitsuru's icy glare and Shinji's death glare.

"Obey my command!" Mitsuru demanded.

"Obey me or die!" Shinji cracked his knuckles.

Both dogs stopped barking and sat up straight, giving respect to both Shinji and Mitsuru.

* * *

"THERE YOU HAVE IT LADIES AND GENTS! THE WINNERS WILL BE AWARDED WITH TAKOYAKI MEAL TICKETS TO OCTOPIA!"

"Wow guys, you did great!" Chie praised.

"Junpei was hilarious!" Fuuka giggled.

"Well done sempai." Naoto smiled.

"We lost thanks to you Stupei!" Yukari blamed.

"Hey! Don't blame me, blame the evil racoons!" Junpei retorted. "They started it!"

"No, they were doing their jobs of being the 'wild' animals we had to tame." Yukari stated.

"Okay guys, stop fighting already! Why don't we just all go to the next attraction hmm?" I asked.

"Look, I think I see a pretty good cafe over there. Why don't we just sit down and get something to eat?" Minato asked.

"Sounds good to me." Akihiko said.

We all headed over to the cafe, for some reason it was pretty dark and the place looked like a bar. Only now we saw the sign, it read:

**HOST/HOSTESS CLUB CAFE**

"Those actually exist?" I asked.

"Apparently so..." Mitsuru said.

"If it's a host club, does that mean this place has hot guys?" Rise asked.

Just then, a couple of random guys popped out of nowhere.

"My, I've heard all about you Minako-chan. Why don't you join me over there?" the host asked as he dragged me over to a table in the middle of the club.

"W-Wha...H-Hey!" I tried to get free but this guy obviously didn't want to let go of me.

I looked over y should to see that Naoto, Chie, Yukiko, Aigis, Yukari, Mitsuru, Rise, and Fuuka were also dragged off by other Hosts.

"Give Minako back!" Akihiko attempted to retrieve me, but was stopped but a bunch of Hostesses in skimpy outfits.

"My, look at this silver haired beauty! You're mine!" the Hostess chuckled.

"AHHHHH!" Kanji, Teddie, Ryoji, Junpei, and Yosuke ran out of the club as fast as they could, seeing how they were greeted by extremely heavily made up girls who in the light were very scary looking.

"Get off me you bitch." Shinji glared at the hostess who clung to his arm.

"Get away from me; I only have eyes for Minako!" Akihiko shrugged off the hostess.

"Piss off." Minato cursed. "I only care about my sister!"

"Leave me alone you ugly women! Naoto is the only one for me!" Seta stated as he walked off to retrieve his girlfriend.

Akihiko, Shinji, and Minato all went over to get Minako back from the persistent bastard who wouldn't leave her alone.

"Get away from my sister you bastard!" Minato cracked his knuckles.

"Don't go calling her 'Minako-chan' like you're her best friend you son of a bitch!" Shinji glared.

"Leave my girlfriend alone you man-whore!" Akihiko stared down at him.

"W-What the? H-Hey! Leave us alone you dipshits!" the host growled.

"No!" I punched the host right across the face with my right hand. "What gives you the right to call them 'Dipshits' you asshole! Don't you ever come near me again you freak!"

"W-What...Fine! Have it that way you slut! You think you can go around juggling 2 guys just because you're pretty? Well think again! I'll spread rumours about how you're a two-timing whore!" The host shouted.

"Try it...I **dare **you." I glared at him with the intensity of 1000 suns.

"S-Shit...my sister is scary when she's angry..." Minato whispered.

"I think I see an evil aura around her..." Akihiko stared.

"She's scarier than Mitsuru when she's pissed off likethat..." Shinji said.

They all nodded in agreement.

The Host attempted to run but Minato grabbed the back of his collar.

"You think you can insult my sister like that and get away with it?" Minato asked. "We're going to teach you why you shouldn't ever mess with us, especially Minako ever again. Akihiko-kun, Shinji-kun, are you coming to help '**Teach**' this bastard with me?"

"Of course..." An evil grin stretched across his face.

"Definitely." Shinji cracked his neck.

They dragged the guy out in the back. We had a pretty good idea of what was happening in the back alley because we kept hearing *GYAAAAAA* and other sorts of male screams.

"Let go of my friends and you won't end up like that other guy over there." I glared at all the hosts who were keeping the unwilling girls captive.

They were like ghosts, they just disappeared.

"Thanks for saving our necks Minako-san." Chie said.

"No problem." I smiled.

"That was an awesome punch Minako!" Yukari praised.

"You were so cool!" Rise cheered.

"Let's get outta here, I don't wanna be in this place any longer." Seta said.

"I agree with Souji." Mitsuru said as she left the club.

"Why don't we all go to Hagekure for lunch instead." I suggested.

"That sounds great." Naoto agreed.

I texted Minato and told him our plans.

"Hey guys, I got a text from Minako saying that we're going to eat at Hagekure for lunch." Minato read aloud.

"Good, some decent food." Shinji said as he left to catch up with them.

"But what do we do about this guy?" Akihiko asked.

"Meh, who cares, just leave him there. His friends will probably find him **eventually**. Plus we didn't fatally beat the dude so he should be fine." Minato suggested ad left.

* * *

**Authors note: **I'm going to repeat this, if you find any similarities between this story and "P3P Our Combined Power", it's because the we authors are twin sisters okay? We give each other ideas and such so don't be surprised.


	12. Chapter 12 Locked Up Emotions

**I just came up with this idea and i thought it was good, since I was on major writer's block for a while. So please enjoy and review.**  


* * *

"Umm...Onii-san...what did you do to that host guy?" I asked.

"You don't want to know." The boys said at the same time.

"Uhh...you guys didn't...kill him did you?" I asked.

"No, he's still alive." Minato said.

"Well...that's good enough for me!" I smiled.

The boys blushed a bit.

"Anyway, why don't we go to Hell's labyrinth tonight?" I asked.

* * *

And so we did...

"Hmm...how come we can't open this door?" I jiggled the handle. "Huh? What's this?"

Two pictures appeared on the door, a crescent moon and the lover's arcana card.

"Hmm, I think I know what's happening here." I said. "I think only Rise and Yukari can enter this door, because they're both the lover's arcana. But by judging the picture of this moon, we can only enter the door when the moon is at this certain stage."

"So, we'll have to wait until then, I'll buy a moon phase calendar to keep track. We'll have to wait for the 1/8th of a moon to appear before we can open it." Minato said.

"I can sense another door open, why don't we go there for now?" Fuuka asked.

We headed to the next door an opened it.

"This is just like the first room, and look, a door at the other end!" Chie shouted.

"**Welcome to the second room, I am Ares, overcome my task by fighting your most precious friends' true selves, Leader Minako...do you know how they feel about you? Do you know their negative feelings for you?"**

Ares disappeared after that.

"What did he mean by that?" Seta asked.

Suddenly everyone was chained to the wall.

"Hey! What's going on here! Why isn't Minako only one that isn't chained?" Shinji shouted.

"_You wouldn't know that would you? Shinji..._" the shadow said. "_I am your negative thoughts..._"

"What? What's going on here?" I yelled.

Everyone was silenced by an unknown force except for Shinji.

"_Go away Minako, leave me alone! You're hideous in my eyes! LEAVE ME ALONE! GO AWAY! I HATE YOU!_" the shadow yelled. "_WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?_"

"Shinji..." I looked down. "I-I..."

"Don't listen to that thing Minako! That's not me! That's-..." Shinji was silenced before he could say anything else.

It was now Mitsuru's turn.

"_IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT HE DIED!_" the shadow shouted. "_It's your fault that my father is dead! If you had never come here, my father would be alive! HE'D STILL BE ALIVE! IT'S YOUR FAULT! ALL OF IT IS YOURS!_"

"Ngh..." I tear rolled down my cheek.

"No it's not! It's not your fault Arisato!" Mitsuru reassured her. "Those aren't my thoughts! It isn't-..."

Mitsuru was silenced and now it was Junpei's turn.

"_Why is it always you huh?_" the shadow asked. "_Why is it that you're the one with all the power? All the attention? How come you're always the hero? WHY ARE YOU SO PERFECT WHEN I'M JUST THE DUNCE OF THE GROUP?"_

"Junpei...I'm not perfect..." I said; another tear rolled down my cheek.

"Don't listen to that thing Mina-tan! That's now how I think of you! Don't lis-..." Junpei was silenced and now it was Yukari's turn.

"_WHY IS IT THAT YOU HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS? WHY DOESN'T ANYTHING EVER FAZE YOU?_" the shadow screamed. "_HOW COME YOU GET TO LIVE A HAPPIER LIFE THAN I DID? Why was my life so hard when yours wasn't? Why are you always so cheerful? Why can't you be sad? Why is it that you get to be happy and not me? Why? WHY?_"

"I-I...I-I'm not..." I stuttered, trying to wipe the tears from my cheek.

"Don't let that thing get to you Minako! It's a fake! It's not-..." Yukari was silenced and now it was Fuuka's turn.

"_I'm so jealous! You're good at everything you do! Why is it true? How come you can get everything you want to work for you? Why is it that you don't have to try hard to be good at something?_" The shadow shouted. "_You're just so good at everything! It's not fair to those who work hard and their results are a piece of crap! It's not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR!_"

"B-But...I-I..." I was shocked, I didn't want to hear anymore of this.

"That's not me Minako-chan! That's not how I think about you! I don't think of-..." Fuuka was silenced and now it was Ken's turn.

"_Why do you always treat me like a kid? You swore to let me be by your side! YOU SWORE! BUT YOU WENT WITH AKIHIKO! YOU LEFT ME BEHIND LIKE MY MOTHER! I AM NOTHING BUT I KID IN YOUR EYES AREN'T I?_" The shadow cried. "_I WANT TO GROW UP FASTER! You told me to take my time, to enjoy childhood because you only get to live it once, but that's not why you told me to take my time is it? You don't want me by your side! ADMIT IT! WHY AM I ALWAYS LEFT BEHIND?_"

"K-Ken..." I started to cry again.

"Minako! That's not it! Those aren't my thoughts! It's not true! It's-..." Ken was silenced and now it was Aigis' turn.

"_You are nothing but a vessel for death to me._" The shadow said. "_Why can't I be human? Treat me more like a human, I can be one I know it! STOP TREATING ME LIKE A ROBOT! STOP THINKING THAT I CAN NEVER BE HUMAN! STOP IT! STOP IT!_"

"Aigis..." I wiped the tears from my eyes but they still kept coming down.

"No! That's not true! That's not-..." Aigis was silenced and now it was Koromaru's turn.

"_Why are you my friend? Why?_" the shadow asked. "_Is it because you pity me? Is it because I have a persona that you took me in? Don't pity me! I DON'T NEED IT! I DON'T! I DON'T! I DON'T!_"

"Koro-chan..." my eyes weld up with tears and I wiped them away.

Koromaru whined but was silenced. It was now Minato's turn.

"_Why did you leave me behind?_" The shadow asked. "_First Mom and Dad, then you. You left for Japan without me. You were happy without me. Why? I'm the only family you have left! YOU SHOULD BE SAD WITHOUT ME! I WAS SAD WITHOUT YOU! I CARED ABOUT YOU! But you repaid me by having fun when I was hard at work! Earning money so I could live with you! DON'T BE HAPPY WITHOUT ME!_"

"O-Onii-san...I-I didn't mean too..." I cried, my sleeve was now wet from my tears.

"That's not me! I'm happy for you! You've made friends! Don't listen to-..." Minato was silenced and now it was finally Akihiko's turn.

"_I never loved you._" The shadow said.

"W-What...?" I was stunned.

"_You heard me, I NEVER loved you. You thought that I loved you but I don't. I only care about you because you remind me of my dead sister Miki._" The shadow said. "_I hate you! Why did you come? Why do you remind me of my sister? You're giving me pain! Pain I don't need! I don't need you! I won't ever love you! GO AWAY! I HATE YOU! __**YOU MAKE ME SICK!**_"

That hit the mark. I fell to my knees and started to cry my heart out.

"Blame me! Blame all of it on me! It was my fault! It's my fault that you're all miserable! Give me all of your burdens! Let me free you from your misery! I don't want anyone to suffer anymore because of me." I cried.

"**You have the assets of a true leader, you pass my test.**"

The barrier on the door disappeared.

Everyone was released from their chains and ran over to me, circling me.

"Nobody likes me...Nobody loves me...Everyone hates me...am I all alone?" I cried. "What good am I if I cause my friends misery? I'm not a leader; I can never be a leader. Everything is my fault...nobody needs me here...I should just disappear..."

"Minako don't talk like that! It's not true!" Minato tried to put his hand on me but I slapped it away.

"Leave me alone..." I said. "I don't deserve any of this."

"Minako! Don't! It's not your fault!" Akihiko tried to reassure me. "Why is it always her who gets hurt? Why is it that we can never do anything but just watch?"

Akihiko hugged me.

"I don't want to be hated! Don't hate me! Don't leave me!" I cried. "I don't want to be alone! Don't leave me! Don't leave me behind!"

I clutched my head as I cried. I cried so hard that I felt like I was going to run out of tears, I felt like I could create an ocean.

"We're not going to leave you behind! I promise! I'll never leave you! I love you so much!" Akihiko teared up a bit while I cried; I buried my head into his chest. "Please don't ever thing that I hate you! **I** need you! **We** need you!"

The SEES members crouched down and patted my back and tried to comfort me. The investigation team could do nothing but watch and clench their fists. They were all at a loss for words.

I eventually cried myself to sleep; Akihiko carried me to his apartment so we could be alone. He laid me down onto his bed and pulled up a chair.

"I promise you, I'll never leave you." Akihiko whispered.

Akihiko ran his hand on the sides of my cheeks.

"I love you Minako, more than you know." Akihiko kissed my lips gently. "I could never hate you. I could never leave you. You mean so much to me..."

Tears rolled down Akihiko's cheek.

"I wish I could have protected you more, I don't ever want to see you cry like that ever again." Akihiko cried softly.

Akihiko clutched my hands tightly. "I promise to make you happy."

He took a small red box from his pocket; he opened it to see a beautiful ring inside.

* * *

The next morning I woke up.

"Ngh..." I rubbed my eyes and walked to the washroom.

I looked into the mirror, and saw my eyes had turned a red hue.

"I know everyone has someone like that inside. But...I can't blame them." I said. "I'll just get over it...what that shadow said was a bunch of bullshit anyway."

I walked into the kitchen and saw some waffles on the table.

"Good morning Minako." Akihiko hugged me.

"Mornin'." I said sluggishly.

"I cooked breakfast today." Akihiko smiled.

I ate breakfast and sat in the living room.

"Minako, don't let that shadow get to you..." Akihiko sat down beside me.

"It's like a re-occurring nightmare...I know it wasn't true but it still hurt." I said.

Akihiko was at a loss for words until he thought of something.

"C'mon, let's go out today..." Akihiko dragged me all over town.

* * *

He took me for some cake, coffee, ramen, beef bowl, the shrine, and many other places. It was evening when we got home. We sat down in the living room again. I felt happy, he made me happy. I'm so lucky to have him.

"Umm...Minako...there's something I want to give you. Please stand up." Akihiko pulled me to my feet.

He knelt down on one knee and pulled a ring from his pocket.

"Minako..." Akihiko blushed. "Will you marry me?"

Tears weld up in my eyes again.

"Yes!" I gave him a tight hug.

Akihiko put the ring on my finger.

"I promise that I'll be a good husband!" Akihiko gave me a kiss.

* * *

We called everyone including Seta and his friends to the dorms to tell them the news.

"Why did you call us here?" Yukari asked.

"Well...I'm getting married!" I said happily. "Akihiko proposed to me!"

All the girls were screaming out of glee and they looked at my ring.

"I'm so happy for you Minako-chan!" Fuuka hugged me.

All the girls were in tears, tell me how happy they were.

"I somehow feel left out..." Seta sigghed and looked at the other guys.

They all nodded in agreement.

Shinji patted Akihiko on the back congratulating him, and Minato did the older brother talk. Consisting of the usual 'if you hurt her I'll hunt you down and kick your ass' speech.

"When's the wedding?" asked Mitsuru, I could tell that she was really excited.

Akihiko and I looked at each other.

"Well, I was thinking maybe after we get a few shadow shards." I said.

Akihiko agreed and hugged me again.

After having the small party, we went back to Akihiko's house and celebrated our happiness in a more physical and affectionate way.

* * *

**AWW Akihiko proposed! so cute! I'll post the new chapter by next week! If i get out of my new writer's block that is.**


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